A chemical compound whose simplest units are molecules is called a

• A. Molecule
• B. Molecular Compound
• C. Chemical Formula
• D. Bond Energy

Answer: (B)

Think about how substances are held together. If the smallest building blocks of a compound are discrete molecules held together by covalent bonds, the substance is a molecular compound. Ionic compounds, in contrast, form a lattice of alternating ions and don’t consist of individual molecules, so the clue about having molecules as the simplest units points to the molecular type. A molecule is the actual discrete unit, but the term that describes the whole class of compounds built from such units is molecular compound. The other terms are not describing the type of compound: a chemical formula is just how we write what’s present, and bond energy is the energy required to break bonds.