diatomic molecule
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molecule composed of only two atoms of the same or different chemical elements
~15 min read
Encyclopedic overview
A space-filling model of the diatomic molecule dinitrogen, N2
Diatomic molecules (from Greek di- 'two') are molecules composed of only two atoms, of the same or different chemical elements. If a diatomic molecule consists of two atoms of the same element, such as hydrogen ( H2) or oxygen (O2), then it is said to be homonuclear. Otherwise, if a diatomic molecule consists of two different atoms, such as carbon monoxide (CO) or nitric oxide (NO), the molecule is said to be heteronuclear. The bond in a homonuclear diatomic molecule is non-polar.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “diatomic molecule” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.