A polyion is a polymer compounded of repeating ionized units. A polyelectrolyte solution
contains the salt of a polyion, typically neutralized by small ions like sodium or magnesium.
The chiefdistinction between an aqueous polyelectrolyte solution and an analogous small-
electrolyte solution lies in the classification of electrolytes into strong and weak. Thus, dilute
aqueous solutions of sodium acetate exhibit onlythe dissociated ions, but a substantial
fraction of sodiumions are bound to the polyacrylate polyion at corresponding normali-ties …

T= L= b(I) where qp is the charge of a single group on the polyion. The polyion is now
immersed in a solvent medium of dielectric constant D and charged counterions of
concentration n I per unit volume each of zi elementary charges. The counterion binding
criterion, established empirically and elaborated by Manning 2-4) is as follows. Let=
eZ/DbkB T(2) with e the electronic charge k B the Boltzmann constant and T the absolute
temperature. For polyions of high charge density (small b) such