Collision of Polymers in a Vacuum

TL;DR

This study investigates high-velocity collisions between single polymer molecules in a vacuum, analyzing contact times, scattering angles, and velocities, revealing stretching behavior and inelastic scattering effects.

Contribution

It provides a numerical analysis of polymer collisions in vacuum, highlighting the stretching and scattering dynamics at high velocities, which was not previously detailed.

Findings

Self-avoiding chains become highly stretched during collision

Distribution of scattering times depends on scattering angle

A subset of molecules scatter inelastically without significant directional change

Abstract

In a number of experimental situations, single polymer molecules can be suspended in a vacuum. Here collisions between such molecules are considered. The limit of high collision velocity is investigated numerically for a variety of conditions. The distribution of contact times, scattering angles, and final velocities are analyzed. In this limit, self avoiding chains are found to become highly stretched as they collide with each other, and have a distribution of scattering times that depends on the scattering angle. The velocity of the molecules after the collisions is similar to predictions of a model assuming thermal equilibration of molecules during the collision. The most important difference is a significant subset of molecules that inelastically scatter but do not substantially change direction.