Polymers - Chain properties
Chain properties
One of the first polymers created was due to the popular sport of billiards in the late 1800s. At that time, billiard balls were made of ivory, a material in short supply even then. An American inventor won a contest to find a material to replace the ivory. He took the basic structural material that makes up plant cell walls and treated it with chemicals. The result was the polymer celluloid—a shiny, hard material that could be molded when hot. This type of plastic became commonly used in X-ray film and motion picture film. In the early 1900s the first synthetic polymer from a non-natural substance was developed. That was soon followed by the first synthetic fiber, rayon. Companies began to get involved in developing polymers, and the study of polymers began in earnest.
Polymers start off from tiny units called monomersA small molecule that can be combined...
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