• Question: Why is a polymer called a polymer?

    Asked by Mollie. K to Anne, Rose, Ruhina, Thomas on 24 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by Oreos.
    • Photo: Thomas Farrugia

      Thomas Farrugia answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      Hi Mollie,

      the word polymer is derived from two words in greek – “poly” standing for many, and “mer” standing for parts. Putting these together gives “many parts”. On the other hand you can also have monomers (one part), dimers (two parts) and trimers (three parts). We tend to use the word polymer when there are a lot of monomers chained together.

    • Photo: Rose Simnett

      Rose Simnett answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      Yep, I think Thomas covered that question completely.

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