- Polymers are giant and complex molecules.
- Polymers have very high molecular weight usually of the order $103$ to $106$. Arrangement of atoms in polymer is not entirely random.
- Building blocks of polymers are called ‘mers’ or monomers.
- Simplest type of polymers are homopolymers. They are made up of single type of monomer. For example
- Another type of polymers are Co-polymers. These contains more than one sub-unit (or monomer). For example
- In the above example styrene and maleic anhydride monomers are placed at alternate positions. Co-polymer can be a block co-polymer. For example
- Co-polymers can be random as well. as shown in which $A$ and $B$ are monomers. \[ - B - A - A - B - A - B - A - B - A - A - B - \]
- Different types of polymers exists in nature. Example:
Biopolymers- Cellulose, starch, pepsin, insulin, egg alubumin, rubber, DNA (Deoxyribonucleic aid), etc.
Man made polymers are Nylon, Terylene, Polythene, Polystyrene, PVC (Polyvinyl chloride), Bakelite, Perspex, Polysiloxane etc.
- The properties of a polymer solution are strikingly different from those of a true solution. For example, when polyvinyl alcohol is added to water, it swells.
a) Its shape gets distorted and after a long time it dissolves.
b) When more of polymer is added to a given solvent, saturation point is not reached. The mixture of polymer and solvent assumes a soft dough-like consistency.
- Addition polymers and condensation polymers are two important types of polymers.
- Polymer can be described as linear, branched and network.
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