Nylon was developed in 1935
and today we find it in everything
from clothing to parachutes.
But do you know what it's made of?
Hi. My name is Jenny.
I'm a chemist here
at the University of Minnesota,
and today, I'm going to tell you
about the chemistry of nylon.
Nylon is a polymer,
which means that each molecule of nylon
is essentially a long chain made up of
small molecules called monomers.
To make nylon,
we combine two different types of monomers
an acid, or an acid chloride,
and an amine.
When these chemical groups react,
they form a link called a peptide bond.
Because the monomers have
reactive groups on both ends,
they can keep linking up
they can keep linking up
to form long polymer chains.
Let's head into the lab and give it a try.
In this demo, we've put one monomer,
the amine, into water.
We've put the other monomer, the acid,
into cyclohexane.
Like the oil and vinegar
in a salad dressing,
water and cyclohexane don't mix,
so if we pour them together carefully,
they form two layers
with the cyclohexane on top.
So now, we have the amine down here,
and the acid up here.
And guess what's happening
at the interface?
They're reacting to form a polymer!
In fact, there's already a layer
of nylon polymer in there.
Let's see if we can grab onto it
and pull it out.
Hey, there it is—
it's nylon!
And it keeps getting longer.
As soon as I pull up some of the nylon,
more polymer forms at the interface,
So we can keep going... and going...
and going!
I don't know about you,
but I think that's pretty cool.
We took two liquids, made up
of small molecules,
and turned them into a long rope
simply by linking the molecules up
end-to-end and forming a polymer.
Here at the University of Minnesota,
we make and study all sorts of polymers,
from polymers that might be useful
in medicine, or electronics,
to ones that are nice and strong
when you need them,
but compost away when your'e done.
Are there any types of polymers
that you would like to learn about?
Leave us a note in the comments
and let us know.
Thanks for watching!
