ERIC Number: EJ1256617
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Jun
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Simulating the Effects of Excluded-Volume Interactions in Polymer Solutions
Journal of Chemical Education, v97 n6 p1613-1619 Jun 2020
Excluded-volume interactions are ubiquitous to modeling the average size of polymers in solution. This paper shows how simulations can be used by students to explore the emergence of mathematical scaling relations from excluded-volume interactions. Simulations provide robust visual representations of the system, and can be used to investigate a wide scope of problems and scenarios. The simulations were built with the free VPython coding environment and relatively basic algorithms. The results align with the mathematical theories of Flory and De Gennes and provide access to additional insights that are less obvious in the mathematical treatments. Students with relatively basic programming knowledge were able to extend and modify these models and to examine their alignment with mathematical theories. These examples extend the growing literature on simulation-based approaches for teaching and learning chemistry.
Descriptors: Simulation, Plastics, Teaching Methods, Learning Processes, Chemistry, Science Instruction, Visual Aids, Computer Software, Programming, Knowledge Level, Mathematical Models
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A