Polymer Solutions: A Geometric Introduction

Abstract

Why should a physicist be interested in polymers? They do not hold the key to vast sources of energy like atomic nuclei. They do not defy the intuition with ultrasmall dissipation like superconductors and superfluids. They do not reveal subtle new nonabelian symmetries as do subatomic particles. Nor do they hold secrets about the origin or fate of the universe. Polymers are just ordinary matter — just insulating organic molecules. These molecules are merely larger than usual and are in the form of chains of small monomer subunits. Yet these chain molecules have ways of interacting unmatched in other forms of matter. The study of polymers over the last few decades has forced us to broaden our notion of how matter can behave — how it can organize itself in space, how it can flow, and how it can transmit forces. These new behaviors arise from a few qualitative features of the polymer molecule’s structure. The potential for shaping these phenomena is just beginning to be realized as the power of synthetic chemists to control the molecular structure increases.