Polymers

A polymer is formed when small molecules of identical structure, monomers, combine into a large cluster. The monomers are joined together by covalent bonds. When monomers repeat and bind, they form a polymer. While they can be comprised of natural or synthetic molecules, polymers often include plastics and rubber. When a molecule has more than one of these polymers, square parenthesis are used to show that all the elements within the polymer are multiplied by the subscript outside of the parenthesis. The subscript (shown as n in the example below) denotes the number of monomers present in the macromolecule (or polymer).

Ethylene becomes the polymer polyethylene.