Polymers Flashcards
What is a polymer?
A substance made from many repeating units (monomers)
What is a monomer? (2 and example)
Small reactive molecules that react together in repeating sequences to form a very large polymer.
Alkenes can act as monomers because they have a double bond: e.g ethene can polymerise to form poly(ethene), also called polyethene, which is used for plastic caps and bottle.
What is cracking?
The reaction used to break down large hydrocarbons into smaller, more useful ones, like alkanes and alkenes
What is an alkene?
Unsaturated hydrocarbons which contain a double carbon-carbon bond
What is a double bond?
A covalent bond made by the sharing of two pairs of electrons
What is polymerisation?
The reaction of monomers to make a polymer
What is the general formula for alkenes?
The number of hydrogen atoms is double the number of carbon atoms
What is the alkene with 2 carbon atoms?
Ethene
What is the alkene with 3 carbon atoms?
Propene
What is the alkene with 4 carbon atoms?
Butene
What is structure for ethene?
What is the structure for propene?
What is the chemical formula for butene?
C4H8
Why is cracking useful? (2)
Fuels made from oil mixtures containing large hydrocarbon molecules are not efficient. They do not flow easily and are difficult to ignite.
Crude oil often contains too many large hydrocarbon molecules and not enough small hydrocarbon molecules to meet demand.
What reaction is cracking an example of?
Thermal decomposition
