News tagged with molecules
Researchers engineer molecular magnets to act as long-lived qubits
(PhysOrg.com) -- Some physicists today are investigating the possibility of using molecular magnets as information storage units in future quantum computers. Molecular magnets are molecules whose magnetic ...
Mar 21, 2012 |
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Nanoscale protein containers could aid drug, vaccine delivery
UCLA biochemists have designed specialized proteins that assemble themselves to form tiny molecular cages hundreds of times smaller than a single cell. The creation of these miniature structures may be the ...
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
May 31, 2012 |
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Researchers demonstrate possible primitive mechanism of chemical info self-replication
(Phys.org) -- When scientists think about the replication of information in chemistry, they usually have in mind something akin to what happens in living organisms when DNA gets copied: a double-stranded molecule ...
May 25, 2012 |
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Organic carbon from Mars, but not biological
(Phys.org) -- Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen--the building blocks of all life on Earth--have been the targets of missions to Mars from Viking to the present day. While these molecules ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 24, 2012 |
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Researchers unlock mystery of how 'handedness' arises
The overwhelming majority of proteins and other functional molecules in our bodies display a striking molecular characteristic: They can exist in two distinct forms that are mirror images of each other, like ...
May 08, 2012 |
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Discovery of earliest life forms' operation promises new therapies for key diseases
Bacteria provide a well-known playground for scientists and the evolution of these earliest life forms has shed important perspective on potential therapies for some of the most common, deadly diseases. Researchers at Case ...
Apr 26, 2012 |
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Research team uses nanoparticles to make paper waterproof and magnetic
(Phys.org) -- Researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genoa, led by Roberto Cingolani, have devised a means for connecting cellulose fibers in ordinary paper with nanoparticles resulting in new desired properties, ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Apr 20, 2012 |
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Polarized X-ray scattering technique reveals structure of printable electronics
(Phys.org) -- An innovative X-ray technique has given North Carolina State University researchers and their collaborators new insight into how organic polymers can be used in printable electronics such as transistors and ...
Apr 15, 2012 |
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H3+: The molecule that made the Universe
(Phys.org) -- In a study that pushed quantum mechanical theory and research capabilities to the limit, University of Arizona researchers have found a way to see the molecule that likely made the universe - ...
Apr 12, 2012 |
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Understanding photosynthesis: How plants use catalytic reactions to split oxygen from water
Splitting hydrogen and oxygen from water using conventional electrolysis techniques requires considerable amounts of electrical energy. But green plants produce oxygen from water efficiently using a catalytic ...
Apr 02, 2012 |
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Organic compounds found in proto-planetary disks
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from scientists in the US has reported that organic compounds could be formed in proto-planetary disks, and could have seeded the development of life in our own and other planetary ...
Mar 30, 2012 |
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Researchers present a shiny new tool for imaging biomolecules
At the heart of the immune system that protects our bodies from disease and foreign invaders is a vast and complex communications network involving millions of cells, sending and receiving chemical signals ...
Mar 23, 2012 |
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Scientists discover a surprising new way that protons can move among molecules
When a proton – the bare nucleus of a hydrogen atom – transfers from one molecule to another, or moves within a molecule, the result is a hydrogen bond, in which the proton and another atom like ...
Mar 18, 2012 |
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Sex-deprived fruit flies drink more alcohol: New study could uncover answers for human addictions
Sexually deprived male fruit flies exhibit a pattern of behavior that seems ripped from the pages of a sad-sack Raymond Carver story: when female fruit flies reject their sexual advances, the males are driven ...
Mar 15, 2012 |
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New type of extra-chromosomal DNA discovered
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists from the University of Virginia and University of North Carolina in the US have discovered a previously unidentified type of small circular DNA molecule occurring outside ...
Mar 09, 2012 |
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Molecule
A molecule is defined as a sufficiently stable, electrically neutral group of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by very strong (covalent) chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from polyatomic ions in this strict sense. In organic chemistry and biochemistry, the term molecule is used less strictly and also is applied to charged organic molecules and biomolecules.
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.
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.
For more information about Molecule, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
