What methods are used to see how polymers move in solution? What did we learn from experiment?

What is it about?

The book discusses how polymer molecules move in solution, including both dilute solutions and concentrated solutions. The focus is entirely on experiment, not on theoretical models. Most tests on this topic limit themselves to viscoelasticity ('how things pour') and self-diffusion ('how fast single molecules move') . We considered a much wider range of experimental methods. I did a series of 30 lectures based on the book. You can see them all on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVzrYKkeJzE&list=PLC50810D2F01969F3

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Why is it important?

First, scope. Second, Conclusions. By 'scope' I mean the range of experimental techniques considered in the volume. Most tests on this topic limit themselves to viscoelasticity ('how things pour') and self-diffusion ('how fast single molecules move') . We considered a much wider range of experimental methods. Of particular note are (i) the first full-scale review of optical probe diffusion as a way to study how polymers move in solution, and (ii) the first demonstration ever that capillary electrophoresis in a polymer solution can be used to give fundamental information about polymer dynamics. By 'conclusions', I mean that we did a systematic comparison of all data (not a few cherry-picked experiments) with the hydrodynamic scaling and reptation-scaling models, showing that reptation-scaling is inconsistent with the overwhelming bulk of the experimental data. The full list of experimental techniques we considered includes centrifugation, electrophoresis, polarized and depolarized light scattering spectroscopy, solvent diffusion, segmental relaxation, dielectric relaxation, mutual diffusion, probe diffusion, viscosity, viscoelasticity, non-linear viscoelastic behavior, and outcomes of the same techniques as applied to spherical colloids.

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