Polymers and Giant Covalent Structures Flashcards
What is a polymer?
Long chains of repeating units
What happens in a polymer?
Small units link are linked together to form a long molecule with repeating sections
How are the atoms in a polymer joined?
Strong covalent bonds?
How do you draw a polymer molecule?
Draw the shortest repeating section in brackets
Write a small ‘n’ on the outside of the bracket to show the unit repeats
Describe the intermolecular forces between polymer molecules
Larger than between simple covalent molecules
This means more energy is needed to break them
What state is a polymer at room temperature?
Solid
What is a giant covalent structure?
A macromolecule
How are the atoms in giant covalent structures bonded?
Through strong covalent bonds
What is the melting/boiling point of a strong covalent structure like
very high
because lots of energy is needed to break the covalent bonds between atoms
