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Polymers WHAT ARE POLYMERS ? Polymer means many monomers. Sometimes polymers are also known as macromolecules or large-sized molecules. Usually, polymers are organic (but not necessarily). A monomer is a molecule that is able to bond in long chains. A polymer can be made up of thousands of monomer. This linking up of monomers is called polymerization. It is the long chains that give polymers their unique properties. Consider ethane, CH3-CH3, which is a gas molecule at room temperature. Because of their small size, ethane molecules are very mobile and can run almost anywhere they want without interacting with other molecules. Now, if we double the chain length or the total number of carbons to four, we get butane, CH3-CH2-CH2-CH3, which is a liquid fuel. In liquids, atoms or molecules can no longer act as independent units. Because of their larger size, butane molecules are less mobile than ethane molecules. Their lowered mobility allows them to...

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