What gives molecules their properties?

Question

for example,what makes water molecules wet,rock molecules hard,human molecules albe able to form a living thing,and all molecules in general have mass?Is their some sort of subatomic particle that determines these things?

Answer 1

Best - and easiest - discussion of this is "Six Easy Pieces", by Richard Feynman.

Answer 2

The biggest factor is how full or empty is the outer shell of electrons. That's the basic organization of the periodic table. The inert gases don't react with anything because their outer shell is full. Elements with only one electron in the outer shell, or only one electron missing from the outer shell, are the most reactive. Look for a simple chemistry book explaining the periodic table. Differences beyond that are harder to explain.

Why anything has mass is a much deeper question, and you'll probably never find a satisfactory answer.

Answer 3

Well say in a substance like Iron, the iron moleculess are bonded really tightly together with strong bonds.
But in water, the water molecules are bonded weakly and do not all stick together. They are loose. Thus making something which can flow and soak into tiny spaces (making for example clothes wet.)
Sorry thats highly unscientific, but I haven't done chemistry for 2 years :p

Answer 4

THAT is quite the mystery.....

Have you searched on the web? There are many great websites that explain these kinds of things.
Here are some:

http://en.wikipedia.org (this website has just about every subject and can be modified by the public... and it has the references/bibliography for the article)

http://www.discovery.com

http://www.howstuffworks.com

I haven't really looked into searching for this, so go ahead and try it. Most of those websites have a search engine, so it should be relatively easy to find what you're looking for....

Hope this helps!

P.S. if i find some more, i'll send them to you ... if i remember to.... lol

Answer 5

Man is the measure of all things. ALL these things are made of the same material but we put names to thier more complex differences

Answer 6

THEIR MASS IS OBTAINED BY COMBINATIONS OF THEIR NUCLEUS'S AND SETS OF ELECTRONS,

H20 EASY ONE!
HEAT IT AND IT BREAKS DOWN TO OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN TWO GASSES COLLectible

BURSTING OUT CHEM. IN ANY HOME KITCHEN.

CATCH METHANE INSWAMPS THAT BUBBLE THATBURNS NICELY TOO.

BURNING MEANS THEY ARE JOINING WITH OTHER GASSES. heat are extra electrons freed! GET first YEAR CHEM BOOK then read...

Answer 7

theres no easy explaination for this... in a nutshell, its polarity, shape, structure, size, conformation, its abilty to react with other molecues, its solubility, and its composition

Answer 8

Their unique structure and combination of atoms.