MATERIAL SCIENCE: CH 6 PRE-QUIZ VOCAB

carbon 

has 4 valence electrons in a shell with a stable configuration of 8 

covalent bonds

chemical bond where 2 or more atoms share electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration

hydrocarbons

composed of hydrogen and carbon

hydrogen

has 1 valence electron in a shell with a stable configuration of 2

macromolecule

molecule containing a very large number of atoms

monomer

small molecule from which a polymer is synthesized

repeat units 

long molecules are composed of structural entities, which are repeated along the chain

saturated molecules

composed of single bonds

unsaturated molecules

molecules that have double and or triple covalent bonds

van der waals bonds

weak attractive forces between molecules when electron distributions are uneven

weak bonds

between macromolecules are weaker at higher temperatures