[Failatlife]

Hey guys. doing a very ammateur first term assignment on two polymers i have to compare. I am doing silicone and SBS rubber..
I'm just asking if someone can do a quick example paragraph on SBS rubber's properties in relation with intermolecular forces and intra molecular bonds.... I don't know how to explain it.. same with silicone lol I'm meant to write about its properties and its relation to its forces and bonds.. heres what i wrote for silicone

“By varying the -Si-O- chain lengths, side groups, and crosslinking, silicones can be synthesized into a wide variety of materials. They can vary in consistency from liquid to gel to rubber." and thats all... all i know is silicone has hydrogen bonds and covalent bonds, i dont know how to relate that to its properties.. its properties are: Low thermal conductivity, low thermal reactivity, low toxicity, thermal stability(constancy of properties over temperature range of -100 to 250 °C)

to sum it up I don't know how to relate the properties of the polymer to the intermolecular forces and intramolecular bonds..
But yea just need any responses that can help in any way..

[Arkcon]

Well, to start, you'll have to pull together what you know about the structures of the two, and what you know about the properties of the two, and compare those with the likely bonds and structures.  Try building an outline, or better yet, a table.  Then you can write a couple of paragraphs on the subject for this problem.  What you have here just jumps back and forth from polymer to properties to ... lol.  Yea.

[jaspevacek]

SBS rubber is rubbery because of the physical "crosslinks" that exist in it. The styrene and the butadiene are incompatible with each other (much like oil and water) and so they separate into two different phases on a microscale.  The styrene phase is glassy and so when the styrene segments from multiple chains create a separate domain, it acts like a  crosslink, a key ingredient of rubbers.