Polyethene also known as polyethylene or polythene, was the first of the polymers to be discovered. Polyethene is a polymer produced by reacting oxygen and ethene, in this reaction the small ethene molecules attach together to form long chain polymer molecules. This process is known as addition polymerisation. Polyethene in our world today has many uses, some of these are:
             · mouldings-plastic bottles, lids and caps, different types of containers.
             · films-glad wrap and various plastic bags.
             · cable coverings-various pipes and insulating wire and cables
             As you can see polyethene has a huge variety of both domestic and industrial uses, this is fairly impressive when you see that polyethene has only been around sense 1933. Polyethene is a thermoplastic material which is often described as wax-like it is extremely tough and is has an excellent chemical resistance. It is also less dense than water and is the simplest polymer, these attributes lead to polythene being an extremely useful substance.
             Ethene (C2H4), is a simple hydrocarbon molecule which consists of 2 carbon atoms and 4 hydrogen atoms. Ethene's main use is in the production of polythene yet it is one of the most widely used petrochemicals in the world. Ethene is an unsaturated colourless gas which can be ignited in the presence of oxygen.
             Polyethene is produced by allowing the free roaming ethene gas molecules to bond together to form long chain polyethene molecules. In order for this to work a catalyst must be used, a catalyst is a substance that can alter the rate of a chemical reaction without undergoing any chemical change itself. During this process thousands of ethene molecules bond to from each molecule of polyethene. Polyethene is simply a set of ethene molecules bonded together to form a chain, these chains can often stretch up to many many times longer than the original ethene molecule.
             Although normally ethene monomers have...