What is a molecule and how do scientists show the chemical composition of molecules?

Answer 1

A molecule is the combination of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds. Scientists have a variety of methods and instruments to determine the composition of molecules including NMR, mass spec, HPLC and routine chromatography, spectroscopy and IR, etc.

Answer 2

A molecule is an electrically neutral group of at least two atoms held together by covalent chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from ions by their electrical charge. However, in quantum physics, organic chemistry, and biochemistry, the term molecule is often used less strictly and applied to polyatomic ions.

In the kinetic theory of gases, the term molecule is often used for any gaseous particle regardless of its composition. According to this definition noble gas atoms are considered molecules despite the fact that they are composed of a single non-bonded atom.

A molecule may consist of atoms of a single chemical element, as with oxygen (O2), or of different elements, as with water (H2O). Atoms and complexes connected by non-covalent bonds such as hydrogen bonds or ionic bonds are generally not considered single molecules.

Molecules as components of matter are common in organic substances (and therefore biochemistry). They also make up most of the oceans and atmosphere. A large number of familiar solid substances, however, including most of the minerals that make up the crust, mantle, and core of the Earth itself, contain many chemical bonds, but are not made of identifiable molecules. No typical molecule can be defined for ionic crystals (salts) and covalent crystals (network solids), although these are often composed of repeating unit cells that extend either in a plane (such as in graphene) or three-dimensionally (such as in diamond or sodium chloride). The theme of repeated unit-cellular-structure also holds for most condensed phases with metallic bonding. In glasses (solids that exist in a vitreous disordered state), atoms may also be held together by chemical bonds without any definable molecule, but also without any of the regularity of repeating units that characterises crystals.