- pronunciation:
- ma
l
kyul
- features:
- Word History, Word Explorer, Word Parts
| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition: |
A molecule is something made up of a single atom or a group of atoms. Atoms are tiny invisible things that make up everything in the world, and there are many different kinds of atoms. A molecule can have just one type of atom, or it can have atoms of different types. Water, for example, is a substance whose molecules are made up of two different types of atoms. One molecule of water contains two atoms of an element called hydrogen and one atom of an element called oxygen. This is the smallest amount of water that is possible, because, if you take away any one of these atoms, the molecule is not water anymore. If you change one of the atoms to something different or add more atoms, you don't have water anymore. If you want to create more water than this one molecule, you have to add at least one more molecule with exactly the right atoms. All water is made up of these same molecules.
Molecules are very small. There are more molecules of water in one drop of water than there are people and animals on earth! |
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Molecule comes from
moles, a Latin word that means "mass." "Molecule" is a French word for "tiny mass."