Polymers

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PROPYLENE

POLYPROPYLENE

POLYPROPYLENE is a polymer used to make the fabric by the same name. Many outdoor clothes are made of this material because it whisks water away from the skin and keeps you warm. As you can see, POLYPROPYLENE is made be bonding many PROPYLENE molecules together. The polymer displayed here is only a small piece of a very large molecule that extends in both directions.

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GLUCOSE

AMYLOSE

Polypropylene is more typical of the type of molecule normally referred to as a polymer. However, nature makes lots of polymers. The building block for AMYLOSE, a major component of starch in foods, is GLUCOSE. Your body breaks down AMYLOSE and other carbohydrates into the simple sugar GLUCOSE before it can be used as a source of energy.

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