FIGURE 1.

Schematic figure showing a typical distribution of fiber segments present some time after the onset of depolymerization. The thin horizontal line indicates the original extent of the polymer. All the ends (eight are present in this realization) are losing material at a constant rate k_end and new breaks are appearing randomly with a rate k_side per unit length of remaining polymer. The kinetics of the resulting depolymerization are analyzed mathematically in this article.