8: Polymer Lattice Models
( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)
Polymer lattice models refer to models that represent chain configurations through the placement of a chain of connected beads onto a lattice. These models are particularly useful for describing the configurational entropy of a polymer and excluded volume effects. However, one can also explicitly enumerate how energetic interactions between beads influences the probability of observing a particular configuration. At a higher level, models can be used to describe protein folding and DNA hybridization.
________________________________________
1. K. Dill and S. Bromberg, Molecular Driving Forces: Statistical Thermodynamics in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Nanoscience. (Taylor & Francis Group, New York, 2010); S. F. Sun, Physical Chemistry of Macromolecules: Basic Principles and Issues, Array ed. (J. Wiley, Hoboken, N.J., 2004), Ch. 4.