An experiment was undertaken to determine the effect of different liquids upon the swelling of a vulcanized sample of natural rubber at room temperature. It was found that the equilibrium swelling ratio of the natural rubber in carbon tetrachloride was 5.5 and in benzene it was 4.4. Given the information below determine the following parameters.
(a) The molar mass between crosslinks, Mc for the natural rubber sample.
(b) The value of the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, x, for natural rubber in benzene.
(The density of natural rubber=910 kg M^-3; Flory-Huggins interaction parameter x for natural rubber in carbon tetrachloride=0.290; molar volume of carbon tetrachloride=97.1 x 10^-6 m^3 mol^-1; and molar volume of benzene=89.4 x 10^-6 m^3 mol^-1.)
