In this video, we're going to begin our introduction to chemical bonding. Chemical bonds are defined as attractive forces between atoms that hold those atoms together to form either molecules and or compounds. The term molecules is broad and refers to any substance that contains greater than or equal to 2 chemically bound atoms. These atoms could be of different elements or could be of the same element. For example, O2 is an example of a molecule which is oxygen gas.
Notice in our image on the left-hand side we're showing you oxygen gas, which can be represented in several formats. Oxygen gas occurs when you have 2 oxygen atoms that are chemically bound to each other. Because we have at least 2 atoms that are bound to each other, this makes oxygen gas an example of a molecule. There are several types of molecules as depicted, showing how oxygen gas can be taken from the atmosphere and breathed into our lungs. We'll talk more about that process later in our course.
Now, to distinguish these compounds from molecules: compounds, as their name implies, are more complicated because they have at least 2 different elements. Molecules have at least 2 chemically bound atoms, regardless of whether those atoms are of the same element or different elements. Compounds, a specific type of molecule, are composed of at least 2 different elements. For example, water is a compound since it consists of the elements hydrogen and oxygen. Unlike O2, which does not contain different elements, water meets the criteria of both a molecule and a compound.
Another example of a compound is glucose. You'll need to know about glucose later in our course, but it's good to become familiar with this compound now. Glucose has elements of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen, making it a compound. Glucose, a sugar, is found in various forms of life and mixtures such as in honey.
The last idea here is the chemical formula, which reveals both the number and types of atoms in a molecule or compound. An example of a chemical formula is C6H12O6, which is the chemical formula for glucose. Writing C6H12O6 is much faster than drawing out the entire structure of glucose. So, chemical formulas are very useful in this respect. This formula indicates there are 6 carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms, and 6 oxygen atoms in glucose.
Another example of a chemical formula is H2O, the formula for water. This concludes our introduction to chemical bonds and how they form molecules and compounds. Moving forward, we're going to discuss many different types of chemical bonds. I'll see you all in our next video.