molecule

molecule is a topic covered in the Taber's Medical Dictionary.

To view the entire topic, please or .

Nursing Central is an award-winning, complete mobile solution for nurses and students. Look up information on diseases, tests, and procedures; then consult the database with 5,000+ drugs or refer to 65,000+ dictionary terms. Explore these free sample topics:

-- The first section of this topic is shown below --

(mol′ĕ-kūl″)

To hear audio pronunciation of this topic, purchase a subscription or log in.

[L. molecula, little mass]
ABBR: mol Any electrically neutral aggregate of atoms held together strongly enough to be considered as a unit. The individual atoms in the molecule may be of the same type or different. Combinations of dissimilar atoms form chemical compounds. The positive and negative electrical charges balance exactly. Excess or deficiency of either positive or negative charge by the loss or acquisition of electrons results in the formation of an ion.
A molecule is designated by the number of atoms it contains, as monatomic (one atom); diatomic (two); triatomic (three); tetratomic (four); pentatomic (five); or hexatomic (six).

-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please or --

(mol′ĕ-kūl″)

To hear audio pronunciation of this topic, purchase a subscription or log in.

[L. molecula, little mass]
ABBR: mol Any electrically neutral aggregate of atoms held together strongly enough to be considered as a unit. The individual atoms in the molecule may be of the same type or different. Combinations of dissimilar atoms form chemical compounds. The positive and negative electrical charges balance exactly. Excess or deficiency of either positive or negative charge by the loss or acquisition of electrons results in the formation of an ion.
A molecule is designated by the number of atoms it contains, as monatomic (one atom); diatomic (two); triatomic (three); tetratomic (four); pentatomic (five); or hexatomic (six).

There's more to see -- the rest of this topic is available only to subscribers.