End-to-end vector


In the physical chemistry study of polymers, the end-to-end vector is the vector that points from one end of a polymer to the other end.
If each unit in a polymer is represented by a point in space, translation vectors connect between these joints. The end-to-end vector is the sum of these translation vectors:
The norm of the end-to-end vector is called the end-to-end distance.

Relation to other quantities

The quadratic mean of the end-to-end distance can be related to the quadratic mean of the radius of gyration of a polymer by the relation: