Statistical Physics in Biology

Polymer Theory 1, Entropy Elasticity, Collapse

1. Polymers are long covalently bonded macromolecules, with N»1 monomers
   • Biological polymers: Polynucleotides, polypeptides, polysaccharides
   • Homopolymers, heteropolymers
   • Artificial polymers, e.g (-CHH-)_N
2. How straight is a polymer?
   • Thermal excitation of rotational isomores
   • Bending rigidity and Persistence length
3. Entropic elasticity:
   • Random walks, Kuhn segments, and the central limit theorem
   • Polymer spring
4. Interactions:
   • Excluded volume; role of solvent
   • Mean-field estimate of the partition function
   • Applet for self-avoiding walks

(Detailed Lecture Notes (PDF))