up close and personal with polystyrene

Detail of a polystyrene molecule as it might appear in a good solvent. Each stick represents a bond between two carbon atoms. The distance between connected atoms is about 1.4 Angstroms. The backbone bonds may rotate freely. This structure was generated by a Monte Carlo computer simulation [Mondello, M. , Hyung-Jin Yang and R. J. Roe, 1991, Simulation at the University of Cincinnati using the Cray Y-MP at the Ohio Supercomputer Center, private communication.], which simulates the random rotations of the bonds as they might occur in solution. The simulated molecule has about 1/20 the mass of a polymer in a typical styrofoam cup.

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