*What would an electron dot structure for POLYETHYLENE look like?*

Question

*What would an electron dot structure for POLYETHYLENE look like?*

Answer 1

First, what's polyethylene?  Ethylene is H2C=CH2.  When it polymerizes, something opens that double bond so it attacks another molecule to form a new C-C bond, causing the double bond on THAT molecule to open and attack another, and another, and another. . .   The result looks like a long chain:  - CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-   etc.

So, the dot diagram is pretty boring:  

Draw a chain of carbons with double dots:     C:C:C:C:C:C

Then put double dots above and below each carbon, put an H above and below each carbon, since single bonds are represented by double dots (electrons) between the bound atoms.   then you're done.  The chain extends indefinitely in both directions.