ARE THE CONTINUUM AND THE LATTICE REPRESENTATION OF FREELY JOINTED CHAINS EQUIVALENT

The partition function and force elongation relation of freely jointed chains of rigid rod segments are calculated for arbitrary dimensions in the continuum and on a lattice. The qualitative differences between these models are discussed for polymers embedded in spaces of various dimensions. These investigations show that chains of rigid rod segmen ts in higher dimensions are equivalent to chains of segments with inte rnal degree of freedom in lower dimensions. Networks composed of these chains show a similar behaviour as uniaxial stretching experiments of rubber-like materials.