You may think that polymers are so common that they grow on trees... ?

Well, you're right. When we say that polymers are everywhere, we mean it. In fact polymers
have been in nature from the beginning. All living things - plants, animals, and people - are made
of polymers

Polymers in Plants

Plants are made of a polymer called cellulose. This is the tough stuff that wood and stems.
Cellulose is also what makes fibers like cotton and hemp that we can twist into threads and
weave into clothing. And many plants also make starch. Potatoes, corn, rice, and grains all have
a lot of starch. Starch is also a polymer. Even though starch and cellulose are both made from the
same sugar (glucose), they act very differently (because the glucose molecules are joined
together differently). Starch will dissolve in water, but cellulose won't. So, we make food from
starches and we build things and make clothing out of cellulose Starch is all twisted up in a tight
blob, with lots of branches and ends sticking out all over.
You know they say "You are what you eat." Well, one natural polymer that we eat a lot of
is also one we are made of - PROTEIN!
Protein also forms some of the things you wear - namely leather, silk, and wool. Protein is a
natural polymer formed from molecules called amino acids. Chicken nuggets and hamburgers
have a lot of protein (but the bun has a lot of starch!). Protein is the main thing in skin, organs,
muscles, hair and fingernails. The most common protein in your body, collagen, is used for
support and structure. It's in-between all the cells in your body, all around your organs, even in
your teeth and bones .Feathers and fur, hair and fingernails (even animal hooves), are all made of
the protein keratin. Wool is made from sheep hair, and is great for clothing and fabric. Wool is
warm and sometimes a little itchy, but it's still widely used. You'll find it everywhere from hats
to skirts to the inside of a pian
Chitin is the strong waterproof stuff that crustaceans like crabs and shrimp and all kinds of bugs
make to form their protective outer shells. It's even found in the cell walls of mushrooms (weird,
huh?!). The neat thing about chitin is that its structure is a lot like cellulose. One might think it
would be a protein since it's made by animals (mostly), but it's more like the tough stuff in
plants. Scientists have found a way to purify the chitin into an off-white powder that can be
useful to farmers, doctors, and even in food as a thickening agent

Polymers are long molecules made from monomers. "Poly" means many, and "mono" means
one or single. "Mers" means parts. Polymers therefore means many parts, and polymers are
made of many monomers or single parts. Different polymers form from different monomers.
Also, when the arrangement of monomers changes, a different polymer may form.
 Polymer is a chemical compound with molecules bonded together in long, repeating chains.
Because of their structure, polymers have unique properties that can be tailored for different
uses.

Natural Polymers

Natural polymers abound.  Natural Polymers are those substances which are obtained naturally.
These polymers are formed either by the process of addition polymerization or
condensation polymerization. Proteins, starches, carbohydrates, even DNA are natural
polymers. Some important natural polymers include the following examples.

Cellulose

The most common natural polymer is cellulose. Cellulose comes from trees and plants.
Cellulose consists of long, stretched out strands of glucose, the sugar that plants make during
photosynthesis. These stretched out cellulose polymers form very strong supports for the plant,
which is why trees can stand as tall as they do. These stretched out cellulose polymers also
form the fibers in cotton and hemp, which can be used to make clothes. Cellulose fibers also
make paper products. Because of how the monomers fit together, cellulose doesn't dissolve in
water, making cellulose a very useful natural polymer.

Chiton

Chiton is the second most common natural polymer on Earth. Chiton is found in the cell walls
of fungi, including mushrooms, and the exoskeletons of insects, spiders and crustaceans like
crabs and lobsters. Chiton's chemical structure only differs from cellulose by a single molecule
in the glucose monomer. When refined, chiton is used to make edible plastic food wrap, as a
thickener for foods and to help clean up industrial waste water.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, another group of polymers, form from glucose, just like cellulose. Sugar and
starches, both forms of carbohydrates, serve as food for plants and animals. The glucose
monomers connect differently in carbohydrates than in cellulose, though, bunching up instead
of stretching out. This bunching up of the polymer chain means that the carbohydrates take up
less room, letting plants store their food in fruits and vegetables like potatoes and carrots. One
result of how these monomers connect is that carbohydrates dissolve in water. People can
digest carbohydrates but not cellulose because carbohydrates dissolve in water but cellulose
doesn't. Also, people lack the enzyme that will break the cellulose polymer.

Proteins

The millions of different kinds of protein polymers are all made from amino acid monomers.
Although there are only 20 different kinds of amino acids, the many different combinations
and arrangements result in a great variety of proteins. Some different types of protein polymers
include skin, body organs, muscles, hair, fingernails, feathers, hooves and fur. A wide range of
animal fibers, from wool to silk, come from protein polymers. Spider silk, one of the strongest
fibers known, is a protein polymer. Leather, made from animal skin, results from protein
polymers.

DNA and RNA

Two nucleic acid polymers, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), form
from monomer nucleotides. DNA contains the genetic code for an organism and RNA carries
the genetic information from the DNA to the cytoplasm where proteins are then made. Like
most natural polymers, nucleic acid polymers are condensation polymers.

NATURAL
POLYMERS
FC 103
(Organic Chemistry)
 GROUP 5
REMA CABUSORA
JERICO ANTONIO
JENNY MAE ESPLAGO
WENDELL RECOLOSADO