POLYMER

The term polymer is often used to describe plastics, which are synthetic polymers.

However, natural polymers also exist; rubber and wood, for example, are natural polymers that consist of a simple hydrocarbon, isoprene, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Proteins are natural polymers made up of amino acids, and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) are polymers of nucleotides — complex molecules composed of nitrogen-containing bases, sugars and phosphoric acid, for example.