4.2.2.5 - Polymers

What are polymers?

Polymers are long chains of repeating units (monomers)

Are polymers large or small molecules?

Polymers are very large molecules

What are all the atoms in a polymer joined by?

All the atoms in a polymer are joined by strong covalent bonds

Compare polymers melting and boiling points to simple molecular substances.

Polymers have higher melting and boiling points than simple molecular substances

What state are most polymers at room temperature?

Solid

As they have relatively strong intermolecular forces between their molecules

Why are polymer’s melting and boiling point higher than small molecules?

The intermolecular forces between polymer molecules are larger than between simple covalent molecules

Compare polymers melting and boiling points to ionic and giant molecular compounds.

Polymers intermolecular forces are still weaker than ionic or covalent bonds

So they have generally lower boiling points than ionic compounds and giant molecular compounds