Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Cohesion

1. (Science: botany) The sticking together of floral parts of the same whorl without organic fusion. The state of cohering or sticking together. (botany) the process in some plants of parts growing together that are usually separate (such as petals).

2. (physics) the intermolecular force that holds together the molecules in a solid or liquid.

3. The binding together of alike molecules, often in hydrogen bonds (such as water).

(As a property of water) cohesion is the word used to describe hydrogen bonds collectively holding a substance (water in this case) together in a chain. The chain is formed by charged regions of a polar water molecule that are attracted to oppositely charged parts of neighboring molecules.