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Webster 1913 Edition


Polymeric

Polˊy-mer′ic

,
Adj.
[
Poly-
+ Gr. [GREEK] part.]
(Chem.)
Having the same percentage composition (that is, having the same elements united in the same proportion by weight), but different molecular weights; – often used with with; thus, cyanic acid (
CNOH
), fulminic acid (
C2N2O2H2
), and cyanuric acid (
C3N3O3H3
), are polymeric with each other.
☞ The figures expressing the number of atoms of each element in a number of polymeric substances are respectively multiples and factors of each other, or have some simple common divisor. The relation may be merely a numerical one, as in the example given above, or a chemical one, as in the case of aldehyde, paraldehyde, and metaldehyde.