Thoroughly updated according to the most recent literature and advances in instrumentation, and also well-tested by students in the classroom and lab, this text can be applied to introductory as well as advanced courses in chemistry, materials science and chemical engineering down to the molecular level. It starts by introducing chain molecules, then proceeds to step-growth polymerization, chain-growth polymerization, copolymers, microstructure, stereo-regularity, polymer conformations, thermodynamics of polymer solutions, light scattering by polymer solutions, dynamics of dilute polymer solutions, networks, gels, rubber elasticity, linear viscoelasticity, glass transition, and crystalline polymers. Each chapter has a set of exercises and references and a list of further readings, and appendices give background information on series expansions, summation formulae, transformation to spherical coordinates, integrals of Gaussian functions and complex numbers. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)