Discussion Questions
1. What are the principal commercial uses of poly(vinyl alcohol)?
2. Write out a general equation for the cleavage reaction of poly(vinyl alcohol).
3. Cleavage occurs only at 1,2 glycol structures,
but two successive backward additions do not result in two 1,2 glycol structures.
How is this taken into account in the calculation of Δ?
4. A statistical fit to ηsp = Ac + Bc2 might be an appropriate way to analyze for [η].
Carry out this analysis on your data for the uncleaved polymer,
and compare the answer to that determined by plotting ηsp/c versus c. In your view,
which procedure is more accurate? Explain.
5. Does the uncertainty in [η]cleaved or the uncertainty in [η]uncleaved contribute more to the
uncertainty in Δ? Explain.
6. Are systematic errors important in this experiment? If so,
identify any sources of systematic error and provide estimates of how significant they may be.