In life thermodynamics, a bacteria molecule is the view of a bacteria unit, such as one Escherichia coli bacterium, as a single molecule, characterized by a 15-element molecular formula. [1] To exemplify the molecular perspective of a bacterial entity, the adjacent picture is the magnified image (10,000x) of a cluster about twenty E. coli bacteria, attached to a surface, along with the molecular formula of the cluster, as a unite defined as a 15-element molecule. [2]

In more detail, a single bacterium is in itself a very large animated molecule, such as the colony or cluster of 20-30 Escherichia coli bacterial units (bacteria molecules) attached to a substrate, as pictured adjacent, comprised of about 10-billion carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, among twelve other atom types in various quantities.

This view falls into place in the logic of molecular evolution tables, in which in between the formation of hydrogen ion molecule, the smallest molecule in the universe, and the human molecule, there must exist a connective reaction mechanism. The first calculation of the molecular formula for the Escherichia coli bacterium was done by American chemical engineer Libb Thims in 2005. [3]

In the surface thermodynamics approach to "large molecular entity" interaction with a surface, such as a bacteria molecule attaching to an aquatic surface, the attachment process is viewed as a spontaneous change, which is accompanied by a decrease in the free energy of the system. [4]

References
1. Molecular Evolution Table - Institute of Human Thermodynamics.
2. Note: the shorthand "E", as in E11, used in formula means to the power of 10 (as indicated by the number to the right of the symbol), e.g. 3E5 = 3 x 10^5 or CE11 = 10^11 carbon atoms.
3. Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One), (preview), (ch. 5: "Molecular Evolution", pgs. 121-146). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
4. Fletcher, Madilyn. (1996). Bacterial Adhesion: Molecular and Ecological Diversity, (pgs. 4-6). Wiley-IEEE.