Ants, apples, amber

Let’s turn our attention now to other kind of acids. You know what I’m talking about: carboxylic acids. Here’s the simplest one (a):

(a)

HCOOH formic acid (common, PIN) methanoic acid (substitutive) hydridohydroxidooxidocarbon (additive)

If we compare the structure (a) with that of our old friend, carbonic acid (b), we’ll notice that the only difference between them amounts to one oxygen atom.