No, lactose is not a polymer.
Lactose, commonly known as milk sugar, is a disaccharide. This means it's composed of two simpler sugar molecules linked together. Specifically, lactose is formed from one molecule of galactose and one molecule of glucose.
To understand why lactose isn't a polymer, let's define what a polymer is:
- Polymer: A polymer is a large molecule (macromolecule) composed of many repeated subunits (monomers). These monomers are connected by covalent chemical bonds. Examples of polymers include starch (made of repeating glucose units), cellulose (also made of repeating glucose units), and proteins (made of repeating amino acid units).
Lactose only has two sugar units linked together, which defines it as a disaccharide, not a polymer. A polymer requires many repeating subunits.
In summary:
- Lactose: Disaccharide (two sugar units: galactose and glucose)
- Polymer: Many (hundreds or thousands) of repeating subunits (monomers)
Because lactose only has two subunits, it doesn't meet the definition of a polymer.
