Polymers

Carbon Based Molecules Are EVERYWHERE!!!

Today’s Objectives

• Be able to recognize how carbon-based molecules are obtained from petroleum

• Explain how carbon-based molecules are designed for specific uses.

• Describe how a material’s properties depend on its molecular structure.

Think about it: What do Windbreakers and Motor Oil have

in common?

Windbreaker & Motor Oil

• They are both made up of Carbon molecules!!

• Motor Oil is made up of Carbon and Hydrogen

• Nylon in a windbreaker is mainly composed of Carbon and Hydrogen as well

• How can two materials that are so different be made of similar materials???

Did You Know???

• Carbon based compounds from ancient times are used to make new materials!

• For example: People, animals, and plants

Hydrocarbons

• A compound made of only carbon and hydrogen.

• Found in the sea• How did they get

there?– The Carbon Cycle

Carbon Compounds Are Very Important In Our Life!!!

• Petroleum- is found underground and is made from dead organisms. A chemical change takes place and turns organic material to petroleum. People have pumped petroleum out of the ground since the 1850’s.

Refining Petroleum• In the raw form petroleum is not useful!• It can be separated into different useful

purposes:– Gas: Cooking, heating, manufacturing– Gasoline: Car fuel– Kerosene: Airplane fuel– Fuel Oil: Diesel fuel, heating oil– Greases: Lubrication

Using Products made from Petroleum

Gas Prices! What do you Think?

• Why do you think gas prices are rising?

• What can we use to alleviate this problem?

• Let’s take a look at what Experts Say!

Monomers

• They are single molecules.• Liquid monomers flow easily and are

seldom gooey or sticky to the touch.

Polymers

• Monomers linked together in identical, repetitive segments that form long chains of molecules.

• Gooey and flow more slowly than liquid monomers.

• Example PVA

Plastics

• Polypropylene is a fancy name for plastics.

• A plastic is a polymer that can be shaped or molded.

• The first plastic was celluloid, made in 1870.

Plastics

• Today’s plastics are made artificially, by building polymers from monomers.

• The first artificial polymer invented was Bakelite. It was used for pot handles, jewelry, lamps, buttons, and radio cases.

Recycling Plastics

• Look on Page 296 in Book!

Designing Materials

• New polymers are created Everyday!• Teflon- It is made by replacing

hydrogen atoms in a monomer with fluorine atoms and then linking the monomers together.

• It is used as a nonstick coating on pots and pans.

Other Examples

• Nomex: Used to create fireproof clothing• Scientist then changed the monomers of

Nomex and created Kevlar, which is used in bulletproof vests.

• Nomex and Kevlar are isomers, monomers that have the same basic elements but are arranged differently.

Time for Review

• What is a monomer?

• What is a polymer?

• What is an isomer?

Time for Review

• How are polymers useful to us?

• What type of everyday objects are made up of polymers?

• Are plastics made artificially or naturally?

Time for Review

• Do you think that their will be other polymers discovered? If so, what will we use them for?