PHYSICS 144 · PHYS 144Polymer Physics
Physics · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
How physical properties of polymers can be derived from mathematical models of chains and coils. Comparison of these models to calculations based on random walk problem and used to predict mechanical characteristics of large molecules. Study of networks of polymers and polymeric fluids, with focus on their viscoelastic properties. Discussion of movement of individual polymers within melts. Study of examples of more complex structures, such as polymer fractals. Consideration of applications of this work to biology, with focus on their potential role in evolution and current hypotheses on origins of life.
P/NP or letter grading.
When it runs
Not on the schedule for any of Fall 2025 through Spring 2027. UCLA publishes only that window, so this does not mean the course is gone — check the official listing.
Requisites
Official UCLA wording
Enforced requisites: courses 105A, 110A, and 112 or Chemistry 110A.
BruinTree reads · Prerequisite
confidence 1.00 · from textRequires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
PHYSICS 144
- PHYSICS 105AAnalytic Mechanics
- PHYSICS 32Mathematical Methods
- MATH 32ACalculus of Several Variables
- PHYSICS 1BPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fieldsanother path to it
- MATH 33BDifferential Equations
- MATH 31BIntegration and Infinite Series
- PHYSICS 110AElectricity and Magnetism
- PHYSICS 1APhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanics
- PHYSICS 1AHPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanics (Honors)
- MATH 32BCalculus of Several Variables
- MATH 3COrdinary Differential Equations with Linear Algebra for Life Sciences Students
- MATH 3BCalculus for Life Sciences Students
- PHYSICS 1BPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fields
- PHYSICS 1BHPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fields (Honors)
- MATH 33ALinear Algebra and Applications
- CHEM 14AGeneral Chemistry for Life Scientists I
- LIFESCI 30AMathematics for Life Scientists
- PHYSICS 1CPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Electrodynamics, Optics, and Special Relativity
- PHYSICS 1BPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fieldsanother path to it
- PHYSICS 1CHPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Electrodynamics, Optics, and Special Relativity (Honors)
- PHYSICS 112Thermal Physics
- PHYSICS 115AQuantum Mechanics
- PHYSICS 17Modern Physics
- PHYSICS 115BQuantum Mechanics
- PHYSICS 105BAnalytic Mechanics
4 direct requisites. Showing 51 courses over 3 levels; the branches marked with a count carry on past it. Every course here opens its own tree.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.