The Hookean dumbbell model of a macromolecule predicts non-uniform density and pressure fields surrounding a sphere buoyant in a dilute polymer solution when the size of the sphere is of the same order of magnitude as the size of the macromolecules. Using this prediction, the root mean square separation distance of a suspension of spheres buoyant within a dilute polymer solution is found to be inversely proportional to both the square of the radius of a, sphere and the density of the polymer solution. The phase space distribution function for an ensemble of spheres immersed at equilibrium within a dilute polymer solution is found and used to define the magnitude of the ensemble average peculiar acceleration of the spheres. The peculiar acceleration results from changes in direction of the peculiar velocity. It is found to be directly proportional to the temperature, polymer density, and square of the radius of a sphere and inversely proportional to the mass of a sphere. The self-diffusivity of the particles varies directly with the square root of the temperature. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 114: 2992-2996, 2009