Plastics, fibres, rubber and cellulose are well-known words in todayˋs vocabulary. As polymers, they have the same origin and similar construction. The word polymer comes from the greek word poly (many) and mer(part). Their structure is rather simple and it’s made up of recurrent sequences, building up large macromolecules with a very large molecular weight. The building blocks are monomers, which consists of one unit. By polymerization two or more monomers a polymer starts to form. For example, polyethylene is a common structure usually found in grocery bags and its formation comes from the reaction called “free radical polymerization”. In this process, a free radical; a compound with one free electron, reacts with one of the carbons located in the ethylene molecule. This leaves the newly attacked carbon as a free radical which most likely initiates a reaction with another ethylene. Due to the high reactivity of free radicals this will continue till another free radical is found and thus terminating the reaction.

The synthesising method helps to divide the polymers into categories. Another method is the condensation polymerization. This method does not depend on the presence of double bond,  it depends on functional groups and in the process a small unit is lost.

One can also divide the polymers into thermoplastics and thermosets, the former is a linear structure with weak van der waals forces between them and it’s disorganized. Due to the weak interactions, the chains may separate when heat is applied. The latter is connected through transverse covalent bonding which bonds are much harder to break.

One of the most useful parts about polymers is that they are very unreactive, which makes them suitable for storage of food, beverages and chemicals. Due to this it is very hard to dispose polymers, for example polyethylene accounts for the major part of littering in nature. But with the right amount of time polymers can be broken down with the help of temperature changes, microorganisms, the UV light from the sun and various microorganisms. It takes about 10-20 years to break down a plastic bag and 450 years to break down a plastic bottle. It usually takes a long period of time to break down plastic in the oceans due to the cold water and lack of oxygen.

WHY IS THIS TOPIC IMPORTANT?

Polymers exist in our everyday lives and we use them daily without even knowing what they actually are. Nylons in textiles and fabrics, Teflon in non-stick pans, Bakelite for electrical switches, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in pipes are just few of the many uses of polymers in our lives. The bottles of mineral water we purchase from supermarkets are also made of synthetic polymers. So, what exactly are polymers? Polymers are large molecules made up of many smaller repeating molecules called monomers through a chemical process known as polymerization. Above are examples of synthetic polymers, meaning they are man-made. However, polymers also occur in nature in the form of proteins and carbohydrates in our bodies and in food we consume.  Protein is an important component in all our cells. Hair and nails are made of proteins, your body uses protein to build and repair cells and protein is also an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin and blood. On the other hand, carbohydrates fuel our daily activities and glucose is the main source of energy.

Now that you know the important role polymers are in our lives, you may be wondering how polymers were even discovered in the first place. The idea of polymers was first proposed by a chemist called Hermann Staudinger, and various groups of polymers are later discovered over many years from 1777 to as recent as 1988.