Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

What is monomer in plastic?

Answer
VerifiedVerified
497.4k+ views
Hint: In order to answer this problem we should first understand about monomers. In the process of polymerization, a monomer is a molecule that can react with other monomer molecules to build a bigger polymer chain or three-dimensional network.

Complete answer:
Plastics are a broad category of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials made primarily of polymers. Plastics can be moulded, extruded, or pressed into solid objects of diverse shapes due to their fluidity. Its widespread use is due to its adaptability, as well as a variety of other characteristics such as being lightweight, resilient, flexible, and economical to create. Human industrial systems are usually used to manufacture plastics. The majority of modern plastics are created from fossil fuel-based compounds such as natural gas or petroleum; however, newer industrial approaches utilise renewable sources like corn or cotton derivatives.
Organic molecules such as ethylene, propylene, styrene, phenol, formaldehyde, ethylene glycol, vinyl chloride, and acetonitrile (we'll go over many of them as we go over various plastics) are monomers found in many polymers.
Thermoplastics and thermosets are two types of plastic. The first type, thermoplastics, soften when heated, which means they may be melted and moulded in a mould in theory. This is a list of recyclable plastics.

Note:
The chemical structure of the polymer's backbone and side chains is used to classify plastics. Acrylics, polyesters, silicones, polyurethanes, and halogenated polymers are some of the most important categories classified this way.Condensation, polyaddition, and cross-linking are some of the chemical processes utilised in the manufacture of plastics.