Dipole moment

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In chemistry, the dipole moment is a quantity showing the extent of a system's polarity, that is, the degree to which electric charge is unevenly distributed throughout the system. Individual covalent bonds also possess dipole moments. In the latter case, the dipole moment is defined as the product of the net partial charge difference between the two bonded atoms and the distance between them. The magnitude of the dipole moment is commonly measured in debyes, while its SI unit is the Coulomb-metre.

A molecule's dipole moment is the amount of force that would be required to flip that molecule in an externally applied electric field of 1 N/C.

Dipole moments may be measured by comparing the dielectric constant and refractive index of solutions, where the solvent does not have a permanent dipole; e.g. cyclohexane. The solution should contain a non-dissociated solute molecule of choice.

Dipole moment may also refer to:

• Electric dipole moment, the measure of the electrical polarity of a system of charges
• Transition dipole moment, the electrical dipole moment in quantum mechanics
• Magnetic dipole moment, the measure of the magnetic polarity of a system of charges
• Bond dipole moment, the measure of polarity of a chemical bond
• Electron electric dipole moment, the measure of the charge distribution within an electron
• Topological dipole moment, the measure of the topological defect charge distribution
• Nuclear magnetic moment, the magnetic moment of an atomic nucleus

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