David Norwood

 Associate Professor

temp

Ph.D., University of North Texas, 1994

Polymer Characterization

Office:Pursley 117

Email:dnorwood@southeastern.edu

Phone: 985-549-3938

I am an experimental (as opposed to a theoretical) physicist, and my research is in the very broad field of Polymer Characterization. As such, I am in that fuzzy area in which physics overlaps with chemistry. It overlaps in both an abstract sense (when a physicist who knows nothing about aromatics and phenols tries to apply his knowledge in the field of chemistry) as well as a literal sense (when the aforementioned physicist actually has to talk to and work with chemists).

I use primarily the techniques of light scattering and viscometry.

Polymer characterization is such an incredibly broad field that I should point out that my work focuses largely on the properties of individual polymer molecules rather than the properties of large aggregated or bonded populations. So instead of measuring the bursting strength of a garbage bag, I might measure the properties of the polyurethane molecules of which the bag is made.