An alkene is an unsaturated hydrocarbon containing a carbon-carbon double bond that cannot freely rotate like single bonds. The double bond consists of one sigma and one pi bond, making rotation difficult. Ethene and propene are examples of alkenes, with ethene containing a double bond between two carbons each bonded to two hydrogens, and propene containing three carbons where the first and second are double bonded and each attached to varying numbers of hydrogens. Alkenes can act as monomers that join end to end through addition polymerization to form polymers.