Polymers and Giant Covalent Structures

Question 1

What is a polymer?

Answer 1

Long chains of repeating units

Question 2

What happens in a polymer?

Answer 2

Small units link are linked together to form a long molecule with repeating sections

Question 3

How are the atoms in a polymer joined?

Answer 3

Strong covalent bonds?

Question 4

How do you draw a polymer molecule?

Answer 4

Draw the shortest repeating section in brackets

Write a small ‘n’ on the outside of the bracket to show the unit repeats

Question 5

Describe the intermolecular forces between polymer molecules

Answer 5

Larger than between simple covalent molecules

This means more energy is needed to break them

Question 6

What state is a polymer at room temperature?

Answer 6

Solid

Question 7

What is a giant covalent structure?

Answer 7

A macromolecule

Question 8

How are the atoms in giant covalent structures bonded?

Answer 8

Through strong covalent bonds

Question 9

What is the melting/boiling point of a strong covalent structure like

Answer 9

very high

because lots of energy is needed to break the covalent bonds between atoms