Question

What is a homopolymer? Give an example.

Answer 1

Hint: Polymers are those substances which are made up of the large number of the repeating structural units known as the monomers and a polymer can be formed from only one monomer or from two or more different monomers. Now you are using this concept, you can easily answer the given statement accordingly.

Complete answer:
First of all, we should know what polymers are actually polymers. Polymers are the high molecular mass compounds, obtained by joining together a larger number of simple molecules through covalent bonds in a regular manner. And the simple molecules which combine to form a polymer are called the monomers and this process of formation of the polymers is known as the polymerization.
Now considering the statement as-
By the word homo, we mean one and by the word polymer, we mean the repeating structural units. So, thus, the word homopolymer means that polymer which is made up of only one type of monomer.
Examples of homopolymer are as polythene ( monomer is ethene), polypropylene( monomer is propene), polyvinyl chloride(PVC)( monomer is vinyl chloride), polyacrylonitrile (PAN) (monomer is vinyl cyanide)etc.

Note:
Don’t get confused in the homopolymer and the co-polymer. Homopolymer is that polymer which is made up of only one type of the monomer whereas on the contrary co-polymers are those which are made up of two or more types of monomers. Examples of the copolymers are as nylon-6,6,Buna-S, polyesters, Bakelite, melamine formaldehyde etc. and so on.