Polymers and Polymerization Reactions
Prior to the early 1920's, chemists doubted the existence of molecules having molecular weights greater than a few thousand. This limiting view was challenged by Hermann Staudinger, a German chemist with…
Natural Rubber: Structure and Function
Natural Rubber StructureThe characterization of polymer materials is more complex than the characterization of simple organic molecules. It has become the norm to separate macrostructure from microstructure when discussing polymer…
Natural vs Synthetic Polymers
There are two types of polymers: synthetic and natural. Synthetic polymers are derived from petroleum oil, and made by scientists and engineers. Examples of synthetic polymers include nylon, polyethylene, polyester,…
Types of Polymerization Reactions
Addition Polymerization This is also called as chain growth polymerization. In this, small monomer units joined to form a giant polymer. In each step length of chain increases. For example,…
Structure of Polymers
Most of the polymers around us are made up of a hydrocarbon backbone. A Hydrocarbon backbone being a long chain of linked carbon and hydrogen atoms, possible due to the tetravalent nature of…
What are Polymers?
A polymer is a large molecule or a macromolecule which essentially is a combination of many subunits. The term polymer in Greek means ‘many parts’. Polymers can be found all…
What Is a Polymer?
A polymer is a large molecule made up of chains or rings of linked repeating subunits, which are called monomers. Polymers usually have high melting and boiling points. Because the molecules consist of many monomers,…
Monomer
A monomer is a molecule that forms the basic unit for polymers, which are the building blocks of proteins. Monomers bind to other monomers to form repeating chain molecules through a process known…
Biological Molecules
The large molecules necessary for life that are built from smaller organic molecules are called biological macromolecules. There are four major classes of biological macromolecules (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids),…
What is a Macromolecule?
When you were younger, you probably enjoyed building things with blocks or stringing beads into a necklace. You were using small units to make a larger object using these small…
