Practice Polymer in Chemistry

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

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Quick Recap

A polymer is a very large molecule made by linking many smaller repeating units called monomers into long chains or networks.

A polymer is like a long molecular chain built from many repeating links.

Showing a random 20 of 50 problems.

Example 1

challenge
Two polyethylene samples have the same chemistry but one is rigid and one is flexible. Using polymer structure, give a plausible reason.

Example 2

medium
DNA and proteins are both polymers. What does this tell you about how life builds large molecules?

Example 3

medium
If 100 ethylene monomers join to form a chain, roughly how many repeat units does the polymer have?

Example 4

challenge
If a polymer chain is built from a monomer of mass 100 g/mol and the polymer has a molar mass of 50000 g/mol, find the degree of polymerization and explain what it represents.

Example 5

hard
Worked example: 0.50 mol of ethylene polymerizes completely into polyethylene. Predict the total mass of polymer formed (ethylene molar mass = 28 g/mol).

Example 6

easy
Proteins are polymers of which monomer?

Example 7

medium
Fill in: A ____ polymer is built from two or more different types of monomers.

Example 8

easy
Are all polymers synthetic plastics?

Example 9

challenge
Polyethylene's repeat unit is −CH2−CH2−-CH_2-CH_2- (mass 28 g/mol). A sample chain has molar mass about 28000 g/mol. Roughly how many repeat units (degree of polymerization) does it have?

Example 10

medium
A student says 'a monomer and its polymer are the same substance, just different sizes.' Correct this.

Example 11

easy
Is rubber from a rubber tree a natural polymer?

Example 12

easy
Does the repeating structure of a polymer affect properties like strength and flexibility?

Example 13

hard
A polystyrene sample has molar mass 1.04×1051.04 \times 10^5 g/mol. The styrene monomer has mass 104 g/mol. Find the degree of polymerization.

Example 14

medium
Why does cooking an egg permanently change its proteins?

Example 15

challenge
A polymer chain made of monomer mass 100 g/mol has number-average molar mass 50000 g/mol. If 0.10 mol of monomer was used, how many polymer chains formed (assuming all monomer reacted)?

Example 16

medium
Why can recycling plastics be difficult given that they are polymers?

Example 17

easy
A polymer is made by linking many small repeating units called what?

Example 18

medium
Glycogen and starch are both polymers of glucose used to store energy. What does this tell you about why life uses polymers?

Example 19

challenge
Worked example: a copolymer is made with ethylene (mass 28) and propylene (mass 42) in a 3:1 mole ratio. The chain has 400 total repeat units. Find the polymer's molar mass.

Example 20

medium
Worked example: a teacher labels Teflon (−CF2−CF2−-CF_2-CF_2-) as a polymer. Identify its monomer and the type of polymerization.
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