Why is plastic inorganic? Are rocks from Mars also considered inorganic?

By the common definition, an organic compound is something composed primarily of carbon derived from living matter.

Some plastics are actually organic, and many are used today to package food products. Organic plastic has a significantly lower peak temperature, and a much shorter lifespan, however, so cannot be used currently for many industrial purposes.

Rocks from mars are not organic because they are neither primarily carbon, nor derived from living matter (presumably).

"Organic" just means that a substance contains carbon in it's make up, although it's still somewhat arbitrary.

Plastics are made primarily from hydrocarbons, so they're organic.

Rocks are typically crystal structures made up of one or many elements, and aren't considered organic, even if they are mostly carbon.

I'm not a "know it all" like you suggest but I'll try to help you out. Organic is generally defined as containing carbon that once came from a life form. Some plastics do contain carbon, as one of the main raw materials is petroleum by-products, and petroleum is a hydrocarbon. But plastic is considered to be inorganic, just like glass and granite. Just goes to show you that most definitions are open for interpretation.

As for rocks from mars, I don't think we've ever had a sample returned to the earth for analysis to see if carbon is present or not.

Is Plastic An Organic Compound