How much do you know about Polymers?

Question

Everyone tosses this term around, POLYMERS. We know that polymers are long repeating hydrocarbon chains, that have a varity of uses, how ever what is the history of them? So here are the questions:

1) When and why did polymers become a popular replacement for natural products?

2) What has been their past uses?

3) What current research is being done in this feild?

4) What impact does this have on our society?

Answer 1

1) Polymers are not just long hydrocarbon chains, and many natural products are polymers. Cellulose (the stuff trees are made of) is a polymer, and people have been making things out of wood for many many thousands of years. Every single protein in your body is a polymer of defined length and composition, and there are many polymeric assemblies in your body: actin/myosin (your muscles), your skin, your hair, etc. some made from proteins, some not.

2) anything and everything. anything that ever used wood in the past, anything made out of plastic today, to start with.

3) anything you can think of. making defined length, defined properties (temperature resistance, light resistance, stronger, more bendable, etc.). Since proteins are polymers many people studying how proteins fold and misfold (the basis for a lot of diseases) use standard polymer physics.

4) anything made out of plastics and wood, the medical connotations since proteins are polymers, etc.

Each one of your questions could become a semester long course.