Wednesday Night Reading Concepts

Wednesday Night Reading Concepts 

By Kelly Moran

 In chapter B sections 1-4 I learned many new concepts. Polymers are a category of designed molecules. A polymer refers to a large molecule typically composed of 500 to 20,000 or more repeating units of simpler molecules. These simpler molecules are known as monomers. Organic chemistry is the study of hydrocarbons and their derivatives, including the polymers we learned in section B.1. Carbon atoms are joined to form a backbone called a carbon chain. Similar energy levels in elements are grouped together into shells. Valence electrons are electrons that are associated with an atom and can participate in a formation of a chemical bond. The sharing of two or more valence electrons between two atoms is called a covalent bond. The chemical bond formed between two atoms that share a pair of electrons is called a single covalent bond. Lewis dot structures are a formula in a hydrogen molecule and are represented by dots surrounding each element's symbol which in the representation represent the valence electrons for that atom. Petrochemicals are a category of chemicals that include detergents, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Compounds produced from oil or natural gas are petrochemicals. The two carbon atoms in an ethane molecule share two pairs of electrons. This produces an arrangement of electrons called a double covalent bond. These are all the main concepts from the reading last night!