I need to pick a polymer for my science project. It has to be organic and preferably simple.

Question

I need to pick a polymer for my science project. It has to be organic and preferably simple.

Some that are already taken are: polyethene, polystyrene, PVC, polyacrylonitrile, DDT , nylon..

Thanks a lot it has been really hard for me to find something.

I don't know if you must make this stuff or just write about it. If just writing about it I should think polybutadiene would be a good one. For other ideas you might look at an organic chemistry text and look for the chapter on polymers.

I need to make 2 monomers of the molecule using styrofoam balls

That should be easy enough. It would be quite difficult to make the real stuff.

Answer 1

To make two monomers of a polymer using styrofoam balls, you can consider using a simple organic compound such as ethanol or ethylene glycol as your monomers.

To represent these monomers using styrofoam balls, you can use a method called ball-and-stick modeling. Here's how you can do it:

1. Choose two styrofoam balls of different colors to represent your monomers.
2. Take one styrofoam ball and label it as "C" to represent the carbon atom.
3. Attach smaller styrofoam balls to the "C" ball to represent the hydrogen atoms. Each carbon atom should have the appropriate number of hydrogen atoms based on its valency (usually four for carbon).
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the other styrofoam ball to represent the other monomer.

For ethanol, you would have two styrofoam balls, one labeled as "C" and the other labeled as "O" to represent carbon and oxygen, respectively. The "C" ball should have three attached hydrogen balls, while the "O" ball should have one attached hydrogen ball.

For ethylene glycol, you would also have two styrofoam balls, one labeled as "C" and the other labeled as "O" to represent carbon and oxygen, respectively. The "C" ball should have two attached hydrogen balls, while the "O" ball should have two attached hydrogen balls.

Remember, this method is just a representation and not an actual synthesis. It will help you visualize the monomers and their structure for your science project.