Polymer

A polymer is the substance composed of macromolecules. a macromolecule is a molecule of high relative molecular mass, the format of which essentially comprises the companies repetition of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of low relative molecular mass.

A polymer ; Greek poly-, "many" + -mer, "part" is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules, or macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic & natural polymers play essential as well as ubiquitous roles in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such(a) as DNA and proteins that are necessary to biological cut and function. Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of numerous small molecules, call as monomers. Their consequently large molecular mass, relative to small molecule compounds, produces unique physical properties including toughness, high elasticity, viscoelasticity, and a tendency to pretend amorphous and semicrystalline executives rather than crystals.

The term "polymer" derives from the Greek word πολύς polus, meaning "many, much" and μέρος meros, meaning "part". The term was coined in 1833 by with a definition distinct from the innovative IUPAC definition. The advanced concept of polymers as covalently bonded macromolecular structures was introduced in 1920 by Hermann Staudinger, who spent the next decade finding experimental evidence for this hypothesis.

Polymers are studied in the fields of polymer science which includes polymer chemistry and polymer physics, biophysics and materials science and engineering. Historically, products arising from the linkage of repeating units by covalent chemical bonds construct been the primary focus of polymer science. An emerging important area now focuses on supramolecular polymers formed by non-covalent links. Polyisoprene of latex rubber is an example of a natural polymer, and the polystyrene of styrofoam is an example of a synthetic polymer. In biological contexts, essentially any biological macromolecules—i.e., proteins polyamides, nucleic acids polynucleotides, and polysaccharides—are purely polymeric, or are composed in large factor of polymeric components.

History

Polymers have been fundamental components of commodities since the early days of humankind. The ownership of wool keratin, cotton and linen fibres cellulose for garments, paper reed cellulose for paper are just a few examples of how our ancestors exploited polymer-containing raw materials to obtain artefacts. The latex sap of “caoutchouc” trees natural rubber reached Europe in the 16th century from South America long after the Olmec, Maya and Aztec had started using it as a material to make balls, waterproof textiles and containers.

The chemical manipulation of polymers dates back to the 19th century, although at the time the generation of these sort was not understood. The behaviour of polymers was initially rationalised according to the picture submitted by Thomas Graham which considered them as colloidal aggregates of small molecules held together by unknown forces.

Notwithstanding the lack of theoretical knowledge, the potential of polymers to render innovative, accessible and cheap materials was immediately grasped. The work carried out by Braconnot, Parkes, Ludersdorf, Hayard and many others on the adjusting of natural polymers determined many significant advances in the field. Their contributions led to the discovery of materials such as celluloid, galalith, parkesine, rayon, vulcanised rubber and, later, Bakelite: all materials that quickly entered industrial manufacturing processes and reached households as garments components e.g., fabrics, buttons, crockery and decorative items.

In 1920, Hermann Staudinger published his seminal work “Über Polymerisation”, in which he proposed that polymers were in fact long chains of atoms linked by covalent bonds. His work was debated at length, but eventually it was accepted by the scientific community. Because of this work, Staudinger was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1953.

After the 1930s polymers entered a golden age during which new types were discovered and quickly precondition commercial applications, replacing naturally-sourced materials. This coding was fuelled by an industrial sector with a strong economical drive and it was supported by a wide academic community that contributed with innovative synthesis of monomers from cheaper raw materials, more excellent such as lawyers and surveyors polymerisation processes, updating techniques for polymer characterisation and advanced theoretical understanding of polymers.

Since 1953, six Nobel prizes were awarded in the area of polymer science, excluding those for research on biological macromolecules. This further testifies its affect on modern science and technology. As Lord Todd summarised it in 1980, “I am inclined to think that the developing of polymerization is perhaps the biggest thing that chemistry has done, where it has had the biggest issue on everyday life”.