Organic matter

Organic material or organic matter refers to any material that is capable of decay or of being decomposed or is the product of decomposition, and is usually the remains of a recently living organism, and may also include still-living organisms. Polymers and plastics, although they may be organic compounds, are usually not considered organic material, due to their poor ability to decompose.

In soil science, organic matter refers to that of soil.

Organic matter is not necessarily created by living organisms, and living organisms do not only leave behind organic material. A clam's shell, for example, while biotic, is not capable of being decomposed—largely because it is lacking in organic molecules. Conversely, urea is one of many organic substances that can be synthesized without any biological activity.

The equation of "organic" with living organisms comes from the scientifically abandoned idea of vitalism that attributed a special force to life that alone could create organic substances, which was first called into question by the abiotic synthesis of urea by Friedrich Wöhler in 1828.

See also