Synthetic\u00a0polymers are produced in different types of reactions. Many simple\u00a0hydrocarbons, such as\u00a0ethylene\u00a0and\u00a0propylene, can be transformed into polymers by adding one\u00a0monomer\u00a0after another to the growing chain.\u00a0Polyethylene, composed of repeating ethylene monomers, is an addition polymer. It may have as many as 10,000 monomers joined in long coiled chains. Polyethylene is crystalline, translucent, and thermoplastic\u2014i.e., it softens when heated. It is used for coatings, packaging, molded parts, and the manufacture of bottles and containers.\u00a0Polypropylene\u00a0is also crystalline and thermoplastic but is harder than polyethylene. Its molecules may consist of from 50,000 to 200,000 monomers. This\u00a0compound\u00a0is used in the\u00a0textile\u00a0industry\u00a0and to make molded objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other addition polymers include polybutadiene,\u00a0polyisoprene, and\u00a0polychloroprene, which are all important in the manufacture of synthetic rubbers. Some polymers, such as\u00a0polystyrene, are glassy and transparent at room temperature, as well as being thermoplastic. Polystyrene can be coloured any shade and is used in the manufacture of toys and other\u00a0plastic\u00a0objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If one hydrogen\u00a0atom\u00a0in ethylene is replaced by a\u00a0chlorine\u00a0atom,\u00a0vinyl chloride\u00a0is produced. This polymerizes to\u00a0polyvinyl chloride\u00a0(PVC), a colourless, hard, tough, thermoplastic material that can be manufactured in a number of forms, including foams, films, and fibres.\u00a0Vinyl acetate, produced by the reaction of ethylene and\u00a0acetic acid, polymerizes to\u00a0amorphous, soft resins used as coatings and adhesives. It copolymerizes with vinyl chloride to produce a large family of thermoplastic materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many important polymers have\u00a0oxygen\u00a0or\u00a0nitrogen\u00a0atoms, along with those of\u00a0carbon, in the backbone chain. Among such macromolecular materials with oxygen atoms are\u00a0polyacetals. The simplest polyacetal is\u00a0polyformaldehyde. It has a high\u00a0melting point\u00a0and is crystalline and resistant to abrasion and the action of\u00a0solvents. Acetal resins are more like metal than are any other plastics and are used in the manufacture of machine parts such as gears and\u00a0bearings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A linear polymer characterized by a repetition of ester groups along the backbone chain is called a\u00a0polyester. Open-chain polyesters are colourless, crystalline, thermoplastic materials. Those with high molecular weights (10,000 to 15,000 molecules) are employed in the manufacture of films, molded objects, and fibres such as Dacron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0polyamides\u00a0include the naturally occurring proteins\u00a0casein, found in\u00a0milk, and zein, found in\u00a0corn\u00a0(maize), from which plastics, fibres, adhesives, and coatings are made. Among the synthetic polyamides are the urea-formaldehyde resins, which are thermosetting. They are used to produce molded objects and as adhesives and coatings for textiles and paper. Also important are the\u00a0polyamide\u00a0resins known as\u00a0nylons. They are strong, resistant to\u00a0heat\u00a0and abrasion, noncombustible, and nontoxic, and they can be coloured. Their best-known use is as textile fibres, but they have many other applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another important family of synthetic organic polymers is formed of linear repetitions of the urethane group.\u00a0Polyurethanes\u00a0are employed in making elastomeric fibres known as spandex and in the production of coating bases and soft and rigid foams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A different class of polymers are the mixed organic-inorganic\u00a0compounds. The most important representatives of this polymer family are the\u00a0silicones. Their backbone consists of alternating\u00a0silicon\u00a0and oxygen atoms with organic groups attached to each of the silicon atoms. Silicones with low\u00a0molecular weight\u00a0are\u00a0oils\u00a0and greases. Higher-molecular-weight species are versatile elastic materials that remain soft and rubbery at very low temperatures. They are also relatively stable at high temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fluorocarbon-containing polymers, known as\u00a0fluoropolymers, are made up of carbon\u2013fluorine bonds, which are highly stable and render the compound resistant to solvents. The nature of carbon\u2013fluorine bonding further\u00a0imparts\u00a0a nonstick quality to fluoropolymers; this is most widely evident in the\u00a0polytetrafluoroethylene\u00a0(PFTE) Teflon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Synthetic\u00a0polymers are produced in different types of reactions. Many simple\u00a0hydrocarbons, such as\u00a0ethylene\u00a0and\u00a0propylene, can be transformed into polymers by adding one\u00a0monomer\u00a0after another to the growing chain.\u00a0Polyethylene, composed of repeating ethylene monomers, is an addition polymer. It may have as many as 10,000 monomers joined in long coiled chains. Polyethylene is crystalline, translucent, and thermoplastic\u2014i.e., it softens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inorganic-compounds"],"Cooking_time":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2109,"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108\/revisions\/2109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake.appscodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}