In: Mechanical Engineering
Describe a typical polymer molecule in terms of its chain structure and repeat units. Use a specific example polymer other than polyethylene to illustrate the ideas
Polymer are long chain C-C chain structure. This C-C bond can take different 3- Dimensional shape by maintaining the same bond angle, this phenomenon is called conformation or bond rotation due to which polymer are extremely soft.
Taking example of Polystyrene - :
It is a synthetic aromatic hydrocarbon polymer.
Its monomer is - Styrene
It is one of the widely used plastic.
The long molecules are composed to structural entities called "mer" which are repeated along the chain. Polymers are mostly amorphous and sometimes partly crystalline. Polystyrene is a thermoplastic, thermoplastic softens when heated and becomes hard when cooled.