Molecule
noun
The smallest unit of a substance that keeps the same chemical properties.
Water is a molecule made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
Often appears as...
- water molecule
- string of molecules
noun
A group of atoms bonded together.
A molecule of oxygen forms when two oxygen atoms bond together.
Often appears as...
- bonded molecule
- oxygen molecule
Usage tips
Technical
noun
A very small amount of something.
I didn't get a molecule of sleep last night.
Often appears as...
- molecule of sleep
- molecule of truth
Usage tips
Colloquial
noun
The smallest unit of a substance that keeps the same chemical properties.
Water is a molecule made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
Often appears as...
- water molecule
- string of molecules
noun
A group of atoms bonded together.
A molecule of oxygen forms when two oxygen atoms bond together.
Often appears as...
- bonded molecule
- oxygen molecule
Usage tips
Technical
noun
A very small amount of something.
I didn't get a molecule of sleep last night.
Often appears as...
- molecule of sleep
- molecule of truth
Usage tips
Colloquial
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Chemical Identity
Defines a specific substance, with unique characteristics distinct from other materials.
Salt is a molecule composed of sodium and chloride.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Visible
Molecules are too small to be seen with the naked eye; scientific models represent them.
The structure of a DNA molecule is often shown with a double helix model.
Pro Tip 3/3Essential Vocabulary
Knowing the word molecule is crucial when discussing science topics, especially in chemistry.
The lecture explained how molecules react with one another during a chemical reaction.
Pro Tip 1/3Chemical Identity
Defines a specific substance, with unique characteristics distinct from other materials.
Salt is a molecule composed of sodium and chloride.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Visible
Molecules are too small to be seen with the naked eye; scientific models represent them.
The structure of a DNA molecule is often shown with a double helix model.
Pro Tip 3/3Essential Vocabulary
Knowing the word molecule is crucial when discussing science topics, especially in chemistry.
The lecture explained how molecules react with one another during a chemical reaction.
Pro Tip 1/3Chemical Identity
Defines a specific substance, with unique characteristics distinct from other materials.
Salt is a molecule composed of sodium and chloride.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Visible
Molecules are too small to be seen with the naked eye; scientific models represent them.
The structure of a DNA molecule is often shown with a double helix model.
Pro Tip 3/3Essential Vocabulary
Knowing the word molecule is crucial when discussing science topics, especially in chemistry.
The lecture explained how molecules react with one another during a chemical reaction.
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Video examples
How does your body...
Medicine that slides down your throat can help treat a headache, a sore back, or a throbbing sprained ankle. But how does it get where it needs to go in the first place? The answer is that it hitches a ride in your circulatory blood stream, cycling through your body in a race to do its job before it's snared by organs and molecules designed to neutralize
Video examples
The invisible motion of...
You might think that would happen at absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature. No one's ever managed to cool anything down that much, but even if we could, molecules would still move due to a quantum mechanical principle called zero-point energy. In other words, everything has been moving since the universe's very first moments,
Video examples
Why don't perpetual...
that didn't violate the first law of thermodynamics, it still wouldn't work in the real world because of the second law. The second law of thermodynamics tells us that energy tends to spread out through processes like friction. Any real machine would have moving parts or interactions with air or liquid molecules
Video examples
Molecules Bumping Into...
On what? This isn't a new thought. Just a new way of seeing it. What if this is the way to prove the existence of molecules? Doesn't it sound like fun, dolly? You and me writing a paper that could change the world. And probability of chaos. Not the title I would choose, but we can discuss it.
Video examples
The science of macaroni...
We already know that the world is made of things, things like cats and macaroni salad, and macaroni salad is made of things like mayo and mustard and celery, which are all made of molecules. As we'll see, these molecules are made of the same stuff, just mixed together in different ways.
Video examples
Computing with fluids PIPE...
and has the capacity manipulate matter with thousands of little drug molecules and thousands of little cells and nothing else but to me there is something more fundamental which is this idea that in our world we're stuck with two ways of making things there is the subtractive you can
Video examples
Are There Aliens on...
other, saw the same thing. My second instinct that kicked in quite quickly was, is the signal real? If it is, is it for sure phosphine or could there be another molecule mimicking it? And if it is real and it is phosphine, was I right in saying that only life could produce it?
Video examples
Julian Baggini: Is there...
are hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and that's what water is. Of course we don't. We understand, very easily, very straightforwardly, that water is nothing more than the hydrogen and oxygen molecules suitably arranged. Everything else in the universe is the same.
Video examples
The science of static...
Otherwise you'd be getting zapped all the time. Conductors like metals and salt water tend to have loosely bound outer electrons, which can easily flow between molecules. On the other hand, insulators like plastics, rubber and glass
Video examples
How does caffeine keep...
that cause neurons to fire more sluggishly and slow the release of important brain-signaling molecules. In other words, you get sleepy. Caffeine is what's called an adenosine receptor antagonist.
Video examples
How does your body...
Medicine that slides down your throat can help treat a headache, a sore back, or a throbbing sprained ankle. But how does it get where it needs to go in the first place? The answer is that it hitches a ride in your circulatory blood stream, cycling through your body in a race to do its job before it's snared by organs and molecules designed to neutralize
Video examples
The invisible motion of...
You might think that would happen at absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature. No one's ever managed to cool anything down that much, but even if we could, molecules would still move due to a quantum mechanical principle called zero-point energy. In other words, everything has been moving since the universe's very first moments,
Video examples
Why don't perpetual...
that didn't violate the first law of thermodynamics, it still wouldn't work in the real world because of the second law. The second law of thermodynamics tells us that energy tends to spread out through processes like friction. Any real machine would have moving parts or interactions with air or liquid molecules
Video examples
Molecules Bumping Into...
On what? This isn't a new thought. Just a new way of seeing it. What if this is the way to prove the existence of molecules? Doesn't it sound like fun, dolly? You and me writing a paper that could change the world. And probability of chaos. Not the title I would choose, but we can discuss it.
Video examples
The science of macaroni...
We already know that the world is made of things, things like cats and macaroni salad, and macaroni salad is made of things like mayo and mustard and celery, which are all made of molecules. As we'll see, these molecules are made of the same stuff, just mixed together in different ways.
Video examples
Computing with fluids PIPE...
and has the capacity manipulate matter with thousands of little drug molecules and thousands of little cells and nothing else but to me there is something more fundamental which is this idea that in our world we're stuck with two ways of making things there is the subtractive you can
Video examples
Are There Aliens on...
other, saw the same thing. My second instinct that kicked in quite quickly was, is the signal real? If it is, is it for sure phosphine or could there be another molecule mimicking it? And if it is real and it is phosphine, was I right in saying that only life could produce it?
Video examples
Julian Baggini: Is there...
are hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and that's what water is. Of course we don't. We understand, very easily, very straightforwardly, that water is nothing more than the hydrogen and oxygen molecules suitably arranged. Everything else in the universe is the same.
Video examples
The science of static...
Otherwise you'd be getting zapped all the time. Conductors like metals and salt water tend to have loosely bound outer electrons, which can easily flow between molecules. On the other hand, insulators like plastics, rubber and glass
Video examples
How does caffeine keep...
that cause neurons to fire more sluggishly and slow the release of important brain-signaling molecules. In other words, you get sleepy. Caffeine is what's called an adenosine receptor antagonist.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Dimitar Sasselov
Bulgarian Scientist
The question we ask is - if there is life on other planets, should we expect it to be based on the same molecules, i.e. be universal - or should we expect it to depend on the local conditions, i.e. on the planet's geochemistry. So to find out, we try experiments on biomolecules, starting with such geochemistry conditions.
Quote examples
Richard Smalley
American Scientist
I know that, except for carbon, there would be no life in the universe. Except for this one atom, there would be no life. Well, why? When you think about it, it does get spooky. Encountering these molecules are spiritual experiences similar to what I remember in church as a child, only these are more serious.
Quote examples
William Lipscomb
American Scientist
The problem is how do molecules react. Because if you want to transform a molecule into something useful or something you're interested in, it helps a lot to understand the structure. That means you can explore much more complicated systems, much more complicated reactions.
Quote examples
Mike Myers
Canadian Comedian
I love making stuff. There's a joy in having the first molecule of an idea, then testing it in front of audiences at secret shows that people only know about the day before. I videotape those, study them, enjoy being in the character and figuring out the movie.
Quote examples
George M. Church
American Scientist
We went from a world where almost nobody knew anything about computers to a world where almost all of us are computer geeks for a huge fraction of our day. And I'd like to see that happen with the digital world of biological molecules, too.
Quote examples
William Henry Bragg
British Physicist
The infinite variety in the properties of the solid materials we find in the world is really the expression of the infinite variety of the ways in which the atoms and molecules can be tied together, and of the strength of those ties.
Quote examples
Akira Suzuki
Japanese Scientist
Carbon-carbon bond formation reactions are important processes in chemistry because they provide key steps in building complex, bio-active molecules developed as medicines and agrochemicals.
Quote examples
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
French Philosopher
There is neither spirit nor matter in the world. The stuff of the universe is spirit-matter. No other substance but this could have produced the human molecule.
Quote examples
Tom Robbins
American Author
Our world isn't made of earth, air and water or even molecules and atoms; our world is made of language.
Quote examples
George Wald
American Scientist
I have lived much of my life among molecules. They are good company.
Quote examples
Dimitar Sasselov
Bulgarian Scientist
The question we ask is - if there is life on other planets, should we expect it to be based on the same molecules, i.e. be universal - or should we expect it to depend on the local conditions, i.e. on the planet's geochemistry. So to find out, we try experiments on biomolecules, starting with such geochemistry conditions.
Quote examples
Richard Smalley
American Scientist
I know that, except for carbon, there would be no life in the universe. Except for this one atom, there would be no life. Well, why? When you think about it, it does get spooky. Encountering these molecules are spiritual experiences similar to what I remember in church as a child, only these are more serious.
Quote examples
William Lipscomb
American Scientist
The problem is how do molecules react. Because if you want to transform a molecule into something useful or something you're interested in, it helps a lot to understand the structure. That means you can explore much more complicated systems, much more complicated reactions.
Quote examples
Mike Myers
Canadian Comedian
I love making stuff. There's a joy in having the first molecule of an idea, then testing it in front of audiences at secret shows that people only know about the day before. I videotape those, study them, enjoy being in the character and figuring out the movie.
Quote examples
George M. Church
American Scientist
We went from a world where almost nobody knew anything about computers to a world where almost all of us are computer geeks for a huge fraction of our day. And I'd like to see that happen with the digital world of biological molecules, too.
Quote examples
William Henry Bragg
British Physicist
The infinite variety in the properties of the solid materials we find in the world is really the expression of the infinite variety of the ways in which the atoms and molecules can be tied together, and of the strength of those ties.
Quote examples
Akira Suzuki
Japanese Scientist
Carbon-carbon bond formation reactions are important processes in chemistry because they provide key steps in building complex, bio-active molecules developed as medicines and agrochemicals.
Quote examples
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
French Philosopher
There is neither spirit nor matter in the world. The stuff of the universe is spirit-matter. No other substance but this could have produced the human molecule.
Quote examples
Tom Robbins
American Author
Our world isn't made of earth, air and water or even molecules and atoms; our world is made of language.
Quote examples
George Wald
American Scientist
I have lived much of my life among molecules. They are good company.
Example 1 of 10
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