In this article, we investigate tapping mode atomic force microscopy images of intermediate states along the coil to globule transition of sodium polyacrylate coils containing Ca2+ as specifically binding ions. The structural correlations within single adsorbed molecules are established using power spectral density (PSD) curves. The PSD curves of several single molecules are averaged to give the so called 20 form factor so as to obtain information of higher statistical merit. A proper interpretation of the 2D form factor and comparison with form factor analysis of the very same sample solution available through small angle neutron scattering provides an alternative quantification of changes in conformation which a single polyacrylate molecule undergoes as it moves from 3D solution to 20 surface and is inevitably distorted in shape because of sample history. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 1553-1561, 2010