Corrosive substance or slowly over days or years, e.g. the rusting of iron in a bridge. Sometimes the word caustic is used as a synonym for "corrosive", but "caustic" refers only to strong bases, particularly alkalis, and not to acids, oxidizers, or other non-alkaline corrosives. At low concentrations, a corrosive substance is called an irritant, and its effect on living tissue is called irritation. At high concentrations, a corrosive substance causes a chemical burn, a distinct type of tissue damage. Corrosives are different from poisons in that corrosives are immediately dangerous to the tissues they contact, whereas poisons may have systemic toxic
Chemical substance combined into one substance through a chemical reaction form a chemical compound. All compounds are substances, but not all substances are compounds. A chemical compound can be either atoms bonded together in molecules or crystals in which atoms, molecules or ions form a crystalline lattice. Compounds based primarily on carbon and hydrogen atoms are called organic compounds, and all others are called inorganic compounds. Compounds containing bonds between carbon and a metal are called organometallic compounds. Compounds in which components share electrons are known as covalent compounds. Compounds consisting of oppositely charged ions are known as ionic compounds, or salts.