What characteristic of polyacrylamide makes it suitable for the separation of proteins?

Polyacrylamide is particularly suitable for the separation of proteins because it has smaller pores than agarose gel. This characteristic allows for better resolution of proteins based on their size during electrophoresis. The smaller pore size of polyacrylamide increases the ability to distinguish between proteins that are close in size, making it an ideal medium for separating smaller molecules effectively. The gel's composition can be adjusted by varying the percentage of acrylamide, which allows researchers to tailor the pore size to optimally separate different protein targets. This precise control over pore size is a key advantage of using polyacrylamide over agarose, especially when analyzing proteins of varying molecular weights.