Question

What is the difference between monomers and polymers?

Answer 1

A huge part of the difference lies in the name itself. Both polymers and monomers convey a lot with their name only. Both of the terms are inspired by the Greek language.

Complete answer:
-The Greek meaning of the term “mono” is “a single unit”. There are various types of monomer which are not in the scope of this question. Polymers on the other hand mean “many'' and polymers are made up of repeating monomers. So the first difference is that monomers act as the building components of the polymers and polymers are macromolecules built from repetitive units called monomers and this results in the high molecular weight of polymers.
-The second type of difference that is very much notable between monomers and polymers is the difference in weight. Monomers have low molecular weight as they are simple molecules. Polymers, on the other hand, have a very high molecular weight and this is because it is a complex molecule. The process of formation of such complex molecules with monomers is termed polymerisation.
-The last but not least difference between monomers and polymers is that monomers can have different combination units whereas polymers will always have a single repeating unit (which are monomers only).

Note:
In some books or sources, you can find the term macromolecules in place of polymers and that is just a broad term for large molecules. The key takes away is that polymers are a chain of smaller subunits.