Excluded Volume in Polymer Chains

This discussion is concerned with the excluded volume effect in polymer chains, i.e., the mathematical problem of random flights with correlations between the flights, which is of importance in relating the mean size of a chain to its structure. A general formulation of the problem is set up and compared with the theory of Markoff processes. It is shown that although an integral equation of the Markoff form for the distribution function exists, it contains a complicated function whose exact evaluation is difficult. Since the same function occurs in the problem of the osmotic second virial coefficient, it is natural to relate the excluded volume effect to the second virial coefficient. The results of preliminary numerical calculations for the relation between the mean square radius of the chain and the second virial coefficient, in good agreement with experiment, are given. It is concluded that the volume effect is certainly not negligible for real chains, except when the second virial coefficient is zero, and that the effect increases with increasing chain length.