Materials
Properties of plastics
Plastics are a group of very important materials that have a wide variety of uses. Plastics can be engineered for specific uses by matching up the properties of the plastic to the job it will ultimately be used for.
Plastics are examples of polymers - very large molecules formed by the joining of many small molecules called monomers. The uses of plastics are related to their chemical properties.
Naming polymers
The name of the polymer comes from the name of the monomer used to make it.
For example, the monomer ethene can be used to make the polymer poly(ethene).
Notice how the prefix poly- is put in front of the name of the monomer. Brackets are put around the name of the monomer.
The table shows some examples of monomers and the names of polymers made from them.
| MONOMER | POLYMER |
| Propene | Poly(propene) |
| Phenylethene | Poly(phenylethene) |
| MONOMER | Propene |
|---|---|
| POLYMER | Poly(propene) |
| MONOMER | Phenylethene |
|---|---|
| POLYMER | Poly(phenylethene) |