Synthetic Fibres
Animal fibres of Class 7
Polymerization
Polymers are compounds of very high molecular mass formed by the combination of a large number of simple molecules. The simple molecules which combine to give polymer are called monomers. The process by which the simple molecules such as monomers are converted into polymers is called polymerization.
Homopolymer
A polymer formed from one type of monomer is called homopolymer. For example, polyethylene is a homopolymer of monomer ethylene. A polymer formed from two or more different monomers is called copolymer or mixed polymer. Such as, terylene is a polymer of two types of monomers, ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid.
The polymers are also called as macromolecules because of the large size of their molecules. They are used frequently without any distinction. But a polymer will always consist of thousands of repeating monomer units. Such as chlorophyll is macromolecule but not a polymer because it does not contain monomers. Polyethene can be called as polymer as well as macromolecule. Therefore, all polymers are macromolecules but all macromolecules are not polymers.
