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Polymerisation of Ethene - Chemistry.

Ethene put under pressure and heated with a catalyst
will polymerise to form poly(ethene).
Note that there are no double bonds in the polymer.
Poly(ethene) is an alkane. It is a saturated hydrocarbon.

A polymer which is formed from monomers added together
where no other substance is produced is called an addition polymer.

Examples of addition polymers are
poly(ethene),   poly(propene),  poly(tetrafluoroethene) - PTFE,
poly(chloroethene) - PVC  and poly(phenylethene) - polystyrene.

Chloroethene used to be called vinyl chloride.
The polymer is still called polyvinyl chloride, or PVC.

Phenylethene used to be called styrene.
The polymer is still called polystyrene.

A polymer is often written in the form

The brackets contain the repeat unit.
The small n means that there are many of them.

Below are some examples of the repeat units of polymers.

See properties and uses of polymers.

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