What is Molecule?

You may have heard about atoms and molecules, but do you really know what is molecule?

Molecule is a set of atoms, which may or may not be equal, joined through covalent bonds. They can be simple or complex, depending on the number of existing atoms.

types of molecules

Molecules are stable and therefore considered neutral. They can be simple, like the oxygen that we breathe which is formed by 2 atoms of oxygen (O₂) or complex as the buckyballs.

buckyballs are the largest molecules ever found in space, they have a sphere shape and are formed by 60 atoms of carbon interconnected.

When many molecules come together they give rise to substances. Thus, a substance can be formed by a large number of molecules, with many different atoms.

A water, for example, is a substance made up of many molecules of H₂Or joined together. This indicates that in each water molecule there are two hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom sharing electrons with each other.

The common sugar that we use to sweeten juices, coffee, cakes and sweets is made up of molecules of sucrose (W₁₂H₂₂O₁₁).

Sucrose is a complex molecule that is composed of 45 atoms of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen bonded together.

molecular geometry

Atoms are positioned in molecules in different ways seeking stability, this causes their spatial arrangement to be diversified in different geometries.

See the main ones in the table below.

See too:

• What is antibiotic?
• What are antigens?
• What are antibodies?