User talk:Mclparker

physical properties of a molecule
Hi Mclparker. If this is your first contribution to Wikipedia, welcome! I was wondering what physical properties of the molecule that are the same as in the substance you had in mind? There has been some discussion about how most physical properties of a substance won't generally make sense for one molecule. I can only think about the spectroscopic behavior that would still make sense -- is there any other property we could add to the list? --Unconcerned 16:52, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Hi Unconcerned and thanks for the welcome. This was indeed my first contribution. It is also my first time responding to a question...I hope I am doing this correctly. Although I agree that most physical properties would not make sense for a single molecule, I think the definition is incomplete without the reference. I must admit that when I made the suggested change, I was not thinking in terms of a single molecule. In fact, I am out of my depth when it comes to physical properties surrounding a single molecule. Although your suggestion of spectroscopic properties is excellent, I am unaware of whether this measurement has ever been achieved for a single molecule. Perhaps molecular radius might be a unique physical property.