Award Date

1-1-1998

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physics

First Committee Member

Tao Pang

Number of Pages

38

Abstract

Molecular-dynamics simulations were carried out for linear, flexible polymers in a solvent environment. Both static and dynamic properties were calculated for polymer chains of 8, 16, 24, 32, and 40 monomers in length. The effects of solvent density on the diffusion coefficient, the average radius of gyration, and the average magnitude of the end-to-end distance vector of the polymer are studied. The same properties of loops or 'ring' polymers were studied by connecting the ends of the polymers together. We observed that the calculated properties scale with the number of monomers in a power-law form. The exponents of each quantity are sampled in our simulations. For long polymers, the diffusion coefficient for the open and ring polymers is found to be inversely proportional to the average radius of gyration. For shorter polymers, the ring structure plays a more prominent role in the diffusion process.

Keywords

Dynamics; Molecular; Polymers; Simulation; Solvent

Controlled Subject

Condensed matter; Physics; Polymers; Polymerization; Chemistry

File Format

pdf

File Size

1024 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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