Polymers

1
Polymers

• Chapter 23

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Polymers

• A polymer is a long chemical compound made of
  many repeating structural units
• Natural Polymers are extracted from plant or
  animal products
• DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid
• Cellulose, a part of plants
• Keratin, in wool fibers

3
Synthetic Polymers

• Synthetic Polymers are made from hydrocarbon
  molecules that have been derived from petroleum
• Nylon
• Polyester
• Both natural and synthetic polymers can be used
  to make fibers used in cloth.

4
Simple Polymers

• A Monomer is the smallest individual repeating
  unit of a polymer
• Monomers link together to create a Chain Polymer,
  which is the simplest type of polymer
• These make up many types of fabrics and plastics

5
Hooking Up

• A Cross-Linked Polymer is created when long chain
  polymers are lined up side by side and bond
  together to form a web-like structure

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How to Make a Chain Polymer

• The whole process of making a polymer is called
  polymerization.
• There are three steps to make a chain polymer
• 1. Initiation
• 2. Chain Lengthening
• 3. Termination

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INITIATION

• 1. Initiation is the beginning of
  polymerization.
• It usually uses a catalyst (aka initiator), which
  is a substance that helps start and speed up
  reactions.

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CHAIN LENGTHENING

• 2. Chain Lengthening is the second part of the
  process.
• In this step, the catalyst attaches the monomers
  together by
• Turning the double bonds of the monomers into the
  bonds that link the monomers to each other.

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TERMINATION

• 3. Termination is the third and final step in
  polymerization.
• In this step, the catalyst leaves and a double
  bond is formed at the end of the polymer chain.
• Now we have our chain polymer!