Talk:Polymer chemistry

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 January 2019 and 18 March 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): ElliotNestor. Peer reviewers: Aubrey29.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 06:55, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Definition

Not convinced by the distinction drawn between polymers and macromolecules - I'm inclined to remove it. If anyone can justify retaining it, I'd be interested to know why. --EllaRess 15:25, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

I do not get it, you did it anyway? Maybe IUPAC will convince you then and instead of deleting an edit you could have opted for placing a piece of text less prominent in the article. The difference was explained with a reference in the macromolecule article by the way. Same as distinction fullerene / fullerite V8rik 18:17, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

Apologies, I'm a wiki newbie... However, I'm by no means a polymer chemistry newbie. The IUPAC report states quite clearly that "polymer" is generally used ambiguously so, "henceforth" they will draw a distinction between macromolecule and polymer. To me, the "henceforth" is a clarification of the structure of the report and is by no means a recommendation that polymer scientists abandon the perfectly comprehensible ambiguity of the term. If it happens that I'm wrong, it is a recommendation that is utterly ignored in practice; I never describe my work as "macromolecule synthesis", but always as "polymer synthesis", as does every colleague I've worked with. But this strange distinction has me synthesising some physics! Crazy. That's really why I edited last week - it's such a strange and wrong distinction between terms that are used interchangeably and I wasn't really aware of the wiki etiquette.--EllaRess 15:02, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

• • do not apologize, my main objections to your edit were the delete and the inconsistency between proposing an edit and actually do the edit. The best solution is to place the IUPAC recommendation at a less prominent spot in the article. After all in the macromolecule page it also appears in the bottom of the text and not at the top V8rik 17:14, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

section for polymer chemists

Hi contributors

I'm not from this field, so I'm unsure of your protocols. I wonder whether it would be appropriate to include a section at the bottom linking to important polymer chemists who are the subject of WP articles. I've just written one: Robert Gilbert. Tony 00:50, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

3

Polymer science

Polymer chemistry necesarily have to understand deeply and dominate bulk properties of polymers; Polymer science is part of Material science and this discipline draws on physics and chemistry. So' I erased that weird distinction beetween polymer chemistry and polymer physics because is misleading (you cannot separate this two disciplines in the practice of Polymer science - I know that by practice on the field).

• I reverted this deletion of information. The distinction is based on the IUPAC definition and Wiki does not allow POV or NOR statements (to be blunt: your experience does not count unless you have a relevant publication on this topic). Also deletions are harmful to Wiki, Wiki is supposed to expand not contract. V8rik 15:50, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

What on earth is this article about?

This appears to be (a) a laundry list of polymers, (b) a history of important polymers, (c) an abridged version of the polymer article. It does not appear to be about the field of polymer chemistry in any way (except for the introduction). The material here is interesting and (so far as I can tell) accurate but doesn't belong in this article. May I propose the following sections:

The history of polymer chemistry - (when was first department/institute established - when did it become its own field) Sub-disciplines of polymer chemistry - this should be easily verifiable by checking out the break-out groups at major polymer science conferences. Nobel prize winning polymer chemists e.g. Paul J. Flory (although maybe he's more of a polymer physicist)

Maybe also careers in polymer chemistry, applications of polymer chemistry?

I know there are strong feelings about deleting content so I will make best efforts to move content to relevant articles. Irene Ringworm 03:59, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Stuff that doesn't belong

As I mentioned above, there is lots of good content on this page which has nothing to do with the discipline of polymer chemistry, which is apparently what the article is about. I've moved that content to the talk page so that people can either:

(a) find a more appropriate home for it

(b) rework it to make it fit the subject

From the intro:

• Biopolymers produced by living organisms:
  • structural proteins: collagen, keratin, elastin…
  • chemically functional proteins: enzymes, hormones, transport proteins…
  • structural polysaccharides: cellulose, chitin…
  • storage polysaccharides: starch, glycogen…
  • nucleic acids: DNA, RNA
• Synthetic polymers used for plastics — fibers, paints, building materials, furniture, mechanical parts, adhesives:
  • thermoplastics: polyethylene, Teflon polystyrene, polypropylene, polyester, polyurethane, polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, nylon, rayon, celluloid, silicone, fiberglass…
  • thermosetting plastics: vulcanized rubber, Bakelite, Kevlar, epoxy…

Polymers form by polymerization of monomers. A polymer is chemically described by its degree of polymerisation, molar mass distribution, tacticity, copolymer distribution, the degree of branching, by its end-groups, crosslinks, crystallinity and thermal properties such as its glass transition temperature and melting temperature. Polymers in solution have special characteristics with respect to solubility, viscosity and gelation.

Where does this belong? Irene Ringworm 03:44, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

• • obviously in polymer chemistry, I have no idea why this content is deleted V8rik (talk) 19:13, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Merge

Is this worth merging with the polymer article? Brammers (talk/c) 18:11, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Reworking

Everything pointed out in the talk page is spot on, yet has not been employed. I'm low on time, but someone needs to go through the page and clean it up. It's riddled with typos and discrepancies, and I urge anyone who reads this to please start working on it. I've noticed the different polymer pages are lacking a clear overview of the classifications. The primary polymer page distinguishes them by their chemical/physical properties and by their polymerization process (e.g. condensation), but due to the overlap with the structural classification of synthetic polymers, some information has been neglected and left here instead. Sarnox (talk) 00:59, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: CHEM 300

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 4 September 2024 and 6 December 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): PrevailingChemist (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by PrevailingChemist (talk) 02:54, 29 September 2024 (UTC)