what is a polymer

A polymer is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits called monomers. The term "polymer" comes from the Greek words for "many parts". Polymers can be both synthetic and natural, and they play essential and ubiquitous roles in everyday life. Examples of polymers include synthetic plastics such as polystyrene and natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. Polymers can be made up of one kind of monomer or two or more different types of monomers, which are known as copolymers. The structure of a polymer can resemble spaghetti noodles (linear), ladders (cross-linked), long chains with smaller chains hanging off the main chain (backbone) known as branched polymers, elaborately complex structures (network), or a mixture of some or all of these structures. Polymers are used in almost every area of life, from materials in living organisms to man-made materials such as concrete, glass, paper, plastics, and rubbers.