Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mphil-in-micro-and-nanotechnology-enterprise-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-2/section-b/22/iii/solution

In the imposed free-draining polymer friction model, the drag coefficients of the monomers add, giving and . Taking the same three-dimensional centre-of-mass RMS convention as part (ii),
The polymer is a one-dimensional connected contour, but that alone does not restrict its centre of mass to one spatial axis. If the intended coordinate is instead literal one-dimensional curvilinear motion along an entanglement tube, its RMS contour displacement is . That is a different coordinate and should not be compared with a three-dimensional displacement without stating the conversion/model.
Additive local drag is the free-draining Rouse model approximation. It neglects long-range solvent-mediated hydrodynamic interactions and is not a complete theory of an entangled chain. In a tube/reptation description, curvilinear diffusion can scale as while long-time spatial centre-of-mass diffusion scales as after the chain renews its tube. Conversely a dilute unentangled coil can exhibit Zimm model hydrodynamic coupling. Monomer motion, centre-of-mass motion and contour sliding therefore cannot all be identified with the same displacement law.

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