Molecule - History, Formation, Characteristics, Molecular Bonding
atoms elements formed substances
It was not until knowledge about atoms and elements was gained that the make-up of the millions of different substances around us was understood. All the scientific knowledge we have today indicates that these different substances are made from only 92 different kinds of atoms that make up the naturally occurring elements.
These atoms are able to join together in millions of different combinations and arrangements to form all the substances in the universe. A molecule is formed when two or more of the same or different kinds of atoms join together. The newly formed substance is called a compound. Although the identity of the elements stays the same because the number of protons is the same, the physical and chemical properties of the compound are different from the properties of the elements from which they formed because the arrangement of the outermost electrons is different.
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For centuries chemists and physicists believed that it was possible to transmute one element, such as lead, into another, such as gold. When the corpuscular theory of matter was developed and accepted (which could explain but not predict chemical changes in terms of transmutations), this belief was strengthened. By the middle of the eighteenth century, however, virtually all chemists and physicist…
Of all the naturally occurring substances around us every day, there are only 92 that cannot be chemically changed to simpler substances. Two or three of these substances are so rare in nature that their natural occurrence is questionable. There are also 17 other known substances that are man-made in sophisticated instruments like cyclotrons. Together, these 109 pure substances are called elements…
All molecules have a definite mass and size that are dependent on the atoms from which the molecule is made. The mass is equal to the sum of the masses of all the individual atoms in the molecular structure. The size is not only dependent on the atomic components of the molecule, but also on the arrangement of the atoms within the molecule and how tightly they are joined together. When atoms join …
When compounds are formed, the identity of the atoms, which is associated with the number of protons in the nucleus, does not change. For example, oxygen atoms are still oxygen atoms whether they are part of oxygen gas molecules, water molecules, carbon dioxide molecules, etc., because the number of protons is unchanged. But unlike mixtures, where two or more substances are mixed together but ther…
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