We have observed a sample of 12 interacting galaxies using the Fabry-Perot interferometer GHαFaS (Galaxy Hα Fabry-Perot system) on the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, deriving maps in Hα surface brightness, velocity and velocity dispersion. We extracted the physical parameters (Hα luminosities, velocity dispersions, and effective radii) of 1300 HII regions for the full sample with techniques for which velocity tagging is an essential step. We found two populations of HII regions, with a break at a gas mass of 106.5 solar masses. The mean density of the regions falls with radius for smaller masses, but rises with radius for larger masses. This is because in the lower mass range the HII regions are pressure bounded while in the upper range they are gravitationally bound. This analysis is underscored by using the turbulent velocity dispersion to show that the virial parameter for the regions shows values consistent with gravitational equilibrium in the upper range only. We were able to use ALMA observations of the molecular clouds in one of our objects, the Antennae galaxies, showing that for clouds with masses above 106.5 solar masses their densities increase with mass. The mass functions of the molecular clouds and HII regions in the Antennae show bimodal distributions, with the break at 106.5 solar masses clearly in evidence. We draw two conclusions of interest. Firstly the classical Larson scaling relation between surface density and mass does not operate in the upper mass range, implying higher star formation efficiency there. Secondly the similarity in the mass functions and density radius relations for the GMC’s and HII regions suggests that, at least in the upper mass range, the former remain gravitationally bound even after massive star formation has occurred.