Chemistry- Assignment 1: How does chemical bonding explain the properties of chemical and biological polymers?IntroductionUntil the early 1920s, Most chemists did not believe that molecules with a molecular weight greater than a few thousand are possible, as Reusch (2013) states. This view, however, was challenged by Hermann Staudinger in 1920. Staudinger was a chemist who studied natural compounds including rubber. His research in 1922 led to the idea that these compounds were actually macromolecules composed of more than 10,000 atoms instead of being groups of small molecules. As mentioned before, the polymer is what is called a macromolecule, this means that it is a very large molecule. Due to the size of these large molecules, they can become entangled with other larger molecules, this is what allows them to develop many different properties, some of which include the ability to transform into fibers or elastomers , these properties can never be developed on a small molecule. A large amount of polymer molecules are on the order of hundreds of angstroms in size, but some can be exceptionally large, for example some deoxyribonucleic acid chains can even approach a few centimeters long if stretched (PenState University 2013 , Polymers[online]). Most polymer chains are typically linear, branched, or cross-linked, but there are still other known topologies, they are simply rarer. In cross-linked polymers, often called network polymers or thermoset polymers, there are covalent bonds that connect several chains together, meaning that the molecular weight of these particles approaches infinity on these materials, e.g. average weight of rubber. ...... middle of article...... http://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty/reusch/VirtTxtJml/polymers.htm (last accessed October 1, 2014)PenState University (2013 ) Polymers [online] Available: http://courses.chem.psu.edu/chem112/materials/polymers.html. Last accessed August 13, 2014. Dubois, J.-C. (1996), Ferroelectric polymers: chemistry, physics and applications. Edited by Hari Singh Nalwa, Marcel Dekker, New York 1995Roberts, John D. and Caserio, Marjorie C. (1977) Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry, Second Edition. WAStevens Institute of Technology (2012) Chapter 5. Polymers [online] available: http://web.stevens.edu/e344/27_fall_2012/core/section_5/FL&O_section_5.pdf Last accessed October 3, 2014The OpenLearn team (2006) Rubber and Vulcanization [online] available: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/science/chemistry/rubber-and-vulcanization Last accessed October 2 2014