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The terms polymer and macromolecule do not mean the same thing. A polymer is a substance composed of macromolecules. A polymer is a substance composed of macromolecules. The latter usually have a range of molar masses (unit g mol −1 ), the distributions of which are indicated by dispersity ( Đ ).
Polymers are studied in the fields of polymer science (which includes polymer chemistry and polymer physics), biophysics and materials science and engineering. Historically, products arising from the linkage of repeating units by covalent chemical bonds have been the primary focus of polymer science.
Polymer chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that focuses on the structures, chemical synthesis, and chemical and physical properties of polymers and macromolecules. The principles and methods used within polymer chemistry are also applicable through a wide range of other chemistry sub-disciplines like organic chemistry , analytical ...
Chemistry classifies monomers by type, and two broad classes based on the type of polymer they form. By type: natural vs synthetic, e.g. glycine vs caprolactam, respectively; polar vs nonpolar, e.g. vinyl acetate vs ethylene, respectively; cyclic vs linear, e.g. ethylene oxide vs ethylene glycol, respectively; By type of polymer they form:
In polymer chemistry, polymerization (American English), or polymerisation (British English), is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks. [1] [2] [3] There are many forms of polymerization [4] and different systems exist to categorize them.
The degree of polymerization, or DP, is the number of monomeric units in a macromolecule or polymer or oligomer molecule. [1] [2] [3]For a homopolymer, there is only one type of monomeric unit and the number-average degree of polymerization is given by ¯ ¯ = ¯, where ¯ is the number-average molecular weight and is the molecular weight of the monomer unit.
The word polymer derives its meaning from this, which means "many mers". The mer is not the same thing as a monomer —a mer is a repeating unit within a larger molecule, whereas a monomer is an actual molecule that exists independently, either prior to polymerization or after decomposition.
This category is for articles about polymers, their properties and polymer chemistry in general. Subcategories. This category has the following 15 subcategories, out ...