0The Word "Plastic'' is taken from Greek plastikos it's mean capable of being shaped or molded
"Plastic'' is the synthetic material made of organic polymer, it is malleable therefore it can easily mold in solid object.
Polymer
Every person who is belonging from plastic industries may heard once the word "Polymer''. But what is polymer by mean?
The Polymer meaning is divided into two parts "Poly" & "mer''. Poly means ''many'' and mer means "Unit or Part''
The Polymer is a high molecular weight compound which is formed by the combination of small molecules of low molecular weight., it's having a long chain of macro molecules which are built up by linking together of a large number of small molecules, called as monomer.
How did Polymer formed?
"The process from which the monomer combine to form polymers is called as "Polymerization''
There maybe a thousands of monomer repeat units linked together by co-valent bonds in a molecule of polymer and it decides the size of the polymer molecule. High polymers are substances of very high molecular weight, which may occur in nature.
Now let's talk about the Structure.
- The Polymer can be identify by there chemical structure
- Mainly there are two kinds of polymer "Homopolymer'' & "Copolymer''
"H" chain polymer, if the main chain is made up of same species of atoms then that kind of polymer is known as homochain polymer
Homochain have some types such as
- Homopolymer
- Linear Homopolymer
- Branched Homopolymer
- Cross-linked Homopolymer
The chain which is made up of two different kinds of monomer then it said to be copolymer
Copolymer also have types such as
- Copolymer
- Liner Copolymer
- Branched Copolymer
- Graft Copolymer
Interesting Facts about Plastic
The World's first Plastic was made by Mr.Leo Hendrik Baekeland in the year 1907, it was based on a synthetic polymer which was made from phenol and formaldehyde, with the first viable and cheap synthesis methods invented at that period of time.
