Question

Describe the difference between the melting points of ethene and poly (ethene)

Answer 1

Answer: Poly(ethene) has a higher melting point than ethene. The reason can be seen in the explanation below.

Explanation:

Ethene is one of the most important alkene hydrocarbons which is one of the main products obtained during the cracking of the gas oil fraction of petroleum.

Polymerization is a process whereby two or more simple molecules are linked to form a much larger molecule usually called polymers. Poly( ethene) is formed when ethene and it's derivatives undergoes polymerization reaction. Therefore poly( ethene) is a polymer of ethene.

To describe the reason why there is higher melting point in poly (ethene) than ethene is that poly( ethene) consists of very long chain carbon atoms which are held together by a strong covalent bonds. There are greater intermolecular forces between the long chains compared with smaller simple molecules like ethene.