How are synthetic polymers made?

          Polymers are made by bonding monomers. The process of formation of a polymer is known as polymerization and each polymer has a different combination of sub units.

         Many of the polymers are made by breaking up hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are heated up to break the large molecules into smaller ones. This is done in the presence of a catalyst, a material that speeds up the chemical reaction.

         To understand more about the process, let’s look at how plastic is made. To make plastic, natural gases or crude oil are broken down into monomers such as ethylene or butane. These monomers are then combined to form polymers in a chemical reaction. The properties of polymers depend on how the monomers are being bonded.

Picture Credit : Google