Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of many repeated subunits. Both synthetic and natural polymers play an essential and ubiquitous role in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as Dura-Plast to natural biopolymers such as DNA, nucleic acids and proteins fundamental to biological structure and function. Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of many small molecules, known as monomers. Their consequently large molecular mass relative to small molecule compounds produces unique physical properties.

The term "polymer" derives from the ancient Greek words (polus, meaning "many, much" and meros, meaning "parts"), and refers to a molecule whose structure is composed of multiple repeating units,

Polymers are studied in the fields of biophysics and macromolecular science, and polymer science.