Polymer
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- (PAH-lih-mer) A molecule made up of small identical molecules called monomers. The monomers are joined together in a repeating pattern.
National Cancer Institute - Cite This Source - This Definition - copolymer, microsatellite, microsatellite instability, MSI
- A molecule composed of repeated subunits.
Susan Allender-Hagedorn and Charles Hagedorn - Cite This Source - This Definition - A macromolecule synthesized by the chemical joining of many identical or similar monomers . For example, amino acids, monosaccharides and nucleotides give rise to protein s, polysaccharides and nucleic acids respectively. Water is eliminated between the monomers as they link to form chains. The individual monomer units condensed within a chain are often referred to as residues, a term which is also employed for the bases incorporated in polynucleotides.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization - Cite This Source - This Definition - monolignols, monomer, polymerization
- A long organic molecule made up of small, repeating units (literally, many mers). Analogous to a freight train, where each individual unit is represented by a freight car. At very high magnification, a chunk of polymer would resemble a bowl of cooked spaghetti. Plastic materials are polymers. The strength and toughness of plastics is due, in part, to the length of its polymer molecules. If the chains (links in the freight train) are broken by hydrolysis, the shorter chains will impart less strength to the plastic. If enough polymer chains are broken, the plastic will become weak, powdery, or gooey. See binder.
Council on Library and Information Resources - Cite This Source - This Definition - Binary number, Bit, DB, Decibel, Unicode, UTF