Polymers Flashcards
Polymer
A substance of high relative formula mass made up of small repeating units called monomers
How can alkenes act as monomers to form polymers?
By opening up their double bond
And joining together in a long chain
Addition polymerisation
Process of opening up the double bond to ‘add’ monomers together to form a large molecule
Monomer represented as
The displayed formula of the Alkene with small n
Polymer represented as
No double bond
Bracket around monomer
Bonds extend out of the bracket
n on the outside
Repeating unit
A short hand way of representing a polymer using a bracket and n
How to name polymers
Poly(Alkene)
Waste polymers
After a product has been manufactured, requires sorting into 3 ways
3 ways waste polymers dealt with
Recycling
Incineration to release energy
Use as feedstock for cracking into new plastics or other chemicals
Recycling polymers
By sorting polymers first, then converting to other materials to be reused
By melting + remoulding
Incineration to release energy
Burning polymer waste for fuel by breaking bonds which releases energy
Problems with incineration to release energy
Some polymers contain toxic chemicals such as chlorine which release toxic hydrogen chloride (HCl gas)
How can chemists can prevent problem of incinerators releasing toxic gas?
Pass through scrubbers which will neutralise toxic gases
Separate plastics to avoid burning of chlorine containing ones
Chemical feedstock
By cracking a polymer back down into monomers it can be used to make new products: new plastics or other chemicals
Life cycle analysis
Illustrating the processes of making a polymer product including manufacture etc so chemists can contribute to more sustainable production
