Ideal Polymer Chains

Abstract Chapter 2 looks at individual chain properties by introducing ideal chain models. It highlights the effect of chain connectivity, bond lengths, valence angles and the torsion potentials on a chain’s rigidity. These attributes manifest in the chain’s dimensions quantified by its mean square end-to-end distance and its radius of gyration. It is these features that show how the chemical structure of a polymer chain is masked by a chain’s Kuhn length and its repeat-unit projection length. The section ends with a derivation of the chain’s size distribution function and an overview of a chain’s deformation under an applied external force.