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What are polymers held together by?
Polymers consist of very long molecules that contain chains of carbon. They too are held together by very strong covalent bonds. There are greater intermolecular forces between the long chains compared with smaller simple molecules. This means that polymers have a higher melting point than many other organic molecules.
What is the basic structure of a polymer?
A polymer is composed of many simple molecules that are repeating structural units called monomers. A single polymer molecule may consist of hundreds to a million monomers and may have a linear, branched, or network structure.
What is the formula of polymer?
Some Common Addition Polymers
| Name(s) | Formula | Monomer |
|---|---|---|
| Polyethylene high density (HDPE) | –(CH2-CH2)n– | ethylene CH2=CH2 |
| Polypropylene (PP) different grades | –[CH2-CH(CH3)]n– | propylene CH2=CHCH3 |
| Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) | –(CH2-CHCl)n– | vinyl chloride CH2=CHCl |
| Poly(vinylidene chloride) (Saran A) | –(CH2-CCl2)n– | vinylidene chloride CH2=CCl2 |
What connects one polymer strand to another?
Phosphodiester bonds
Phosphodiester bonds in DNA polymers connect the 5′ carbon of one nucleotide to the 3′ carbon of another nucleotide. The nucleotide monomers in a DNA polymer are connected by strong electromagnetic attractions called phosphodiester bonds.
Are polymers ionic or covalent?
Example: Many compounds have covalent bonding, such as polymers. Nylon rope is an example of a material that is made up of polymers. Polymer structures typically are long chains of covalently bonded carbon and hydrogen atoms in various arrangements.
What are the three structure of polymers?
The four basic polymer structures are linear, branched, crosslinked, and networked. Diagrams of linear, branched, crosslinked, and networked polymer structures.
What is polymer example?
Examples of Polymers Natural polymers (also called biopolymers) include silk, rubber, cellulose, wool, amber, keratin, collagen, starch, DNA, and shellac. Examples of synthetic polymers include PVC (polyvinyl chloride), polystyrene, synthetic rubber, silicone, polyethylene, neoprene, and nylon.
What are monomers and what are polymers in chemistry?
Monomers and Polymers in Chemistry. Monomers are the building blocks of more complex molecules, called polymers. Polymers consist of repeating molecular units which usually are joined by covalent bonds.
How are polymers different from simpler pure compounds?
The synthetic methods used to prepare this and other polymers will be described later in this chapter. Unlike simpler pure compounds, most polymers are not composed of identical molecules. The HDPE molecules, for example, are all long carbon chains, but the lengths may vary by thousands of monomer units.
What happens to the chemical groups during polymerization?
Polymerization is the process of covalently bonding the smaller monomers into the polymer. During polymerization, chemical groups are lost from the monomers so that they may join together.
How are repeating molecular units connected to polymers?
Monomers—repeating molecular units—are connected into polymers by covalent bonds.