Plasticity and polymerisation
Synthetic Fibre of Class 8
PLASTICITY AND POLYMERISATION
The natural fibers of polymers are plastic in nature, i.e. they can be moulded into various shapes. The property by virtue of which a substance can be moulded into various forms is called plasticity, whereas the substance by itself is called plastic.
Chemists have learnt to make duplicate natural fibers. They have learnt to combine simple molecules (monomers) into a long chain of a bigger molecule (polymer), so as to form an artificial fiber.
These artificial fibers are called synthetic fibers or man-made fibers. The process by which artificial fibers are made from simple molecule is called polymerisation. Polymerisation can also be defined as joining of large number of units called monomers to form a chain or a polymer.
