4.1 Addition Polymers

Question 1

What are polymers?

Answer 1

Polymers are long molecules formed when lots of small molecules called monomers join together. This reaction is called polymerisation. To make polymers synthetically, a high pressure and a catalyst are normally needed.

Question 2

Plastics

Answer 2

Plastics are made up of polymers. They’re usually carbon based and their monomers are often alkenes. The alkenes used to make polymers in industry normally come from cracking crude oil.

Question 3

Addition polymerisation

Answer 3

• The monomers that make up addition polymers have a carbon-carbon double bond functional group.
• Lots of unsaturated monomer molecules (alkenes) can open up their double bonds and join together to form polymer chains. This is called addition polymerisation.

Question 4

What can lots of ethene molecules react together to form?

Answer 4

Poly(ethene)

Question 5

How do you name polymers from the type of monomer it’s made of?

Answer 5

You just put the word ‘poly’ in front of it and put the monomer name in brackets.

Question 6

What is the ‘repeating unit’?

Answer 6

The group of atoms that are repeated throughout the polymer and contain exactly the same group of atoms that are in the monomer.

Question 7

Which 2 things should be shown on the arrow when writing addition reactions?

Answer 7

Pressure & Catalyst

Question 8

What are the three things to remember when drawing monomers and repeating units?

Answer 8

• Draw the bonds of the monomer vertically up and down
• Have the empty bonds go through the brackets in the repeating unit
• Have the ‘n’ to signify a large number of monomers and repeating units

Question 9

Alkenes join together by __________ polymerisation

Answer 9

addition