Polyethylene structure?

Question

Polyethylene structure is;
n H2C=CH2-------->[-H2C-CH2-] n
Here,What does"n" means?Why n (small n) is used?

Answer 1

n is a coefficient that can represent any number. In polymers it tends to represent large numbers (polyethylene can have values of n that approach one million).

A small n is used to indicate coefficents in chemistry (sometimes a small m or i are used also) -- we are simply following mathematic conventions here. Lower case letters also help to avoid confusion in chemistry -- a capital N is the symbol for nitrogen -- if the expression starts with a lower case letter, that letter is a coefficient. Capital letters are the start of a chemical abbreviation, so

nO2 is n number of oxygen molecules

NO2 is one nitrous oxide molecule.

Answer 2

The n (subscript) is used to denote "many". That is, after all, what poly means.

n can be as little as 10 or as high as 1,000,000...all depends on how long the polymer chain is before the chain is terminated.

Answer 3

It just means "any number" poly means many, so there can be an infinite number of ethylene molecules bonded in a chain.