Cornerstone molecules (CO, H₂CO, CH₃OH, HCN, HNC, CN, CS, SO) were observed toward seven sub-millimeter bright sources in the Orion molecular cloud in order to quantify the range of conditions for which individual molecular line tracers provide physical and chemical information. Five of the sources observed were protostellar, ranging in energetics from 1 - 500 L_sun, while the other two sources were located at a shock front and within a photodissociation region (PDR).

Statistical equilibrium calculations were used to deduce from the measured line strengths the physical conditions within each source and the abundance of each molecule. In all cases except the shock and the PDR, the abundance of CO with respect to H₂ appears significantly below (factor of ten) the general molecular cloud value of 10^-4. Formaldehyde measurements were used to determine the mean temperature and density for the gas in each source. Clear trends exist between the derived abundance of CO, H₂CO, CH₃OH, HCN, and CS and the temperature of the source, with hotter sources having higher abundances. Determining whether this is due to a linear progression of abundance with temperature or sharp jumps at particular temperatures will require more detailed modeling.

The shape of the CO 3-2 line profile provides evidence for internal energetic events (outflows) in all but one of the protostellar sources, and shows an extreme kinematic signature in the shock region. In general, the CO line and its isotopes do not significantly contaminate the 850µm broadband flux (less than 10%); however, in the shock region the CO lines alone account for more than two thirds of the measured sub-millimeter flux. In the energetic sources, the combined flux from all other measured molecular lines provides up to an additional few percent of line contamination. The observed methanol transitions require high temperatures (T>50 K), and thus energetic sources, within all but one of the observed protostellar sources. The same conclusion is obtained from observations of the CS 7-6 transition. Analysis of the HCN and HNC 4-3 transitions provides further support for high densities n> 10⁷ cm^-3 in all the protostellar sources.

This paper has been submitted to A&A.

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