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Electric dipole p and its torque τ in a uniform E field. An object with an electric dipole moment p is subject to a torque τ when placed in an external electric field E. The torque tends to align the dipole with the field. A dipole aligned parallel to an electric field has lower potential energy than a dipole making some non-zero angle with it.
An electric dipole deals with the separation of the positive and negative electric charges found in any electromagnetic system. A simple example of this system is a pair of charges of equal magnitude but opposite sign separated by some typically small distance. (A permanent electric dipole is called an electret.)
By definition, the change in electrostatic potential energy, U E, of a point charge q that has moved from the reference position r ref to position r in the presence of an electric field E is the negative of the work done by the electrostatic force to bring it from the reference position r ref to that position r.
The work can be done, for example, by electrochemical devices (electrochemical cells) or different metals junctions [clarification needed] generating an electromotive force. Electric field work is formally equivalent to work by other force fields in physics, [1] and the formalism for electrical work is identical to that of mechanical work.
The electric displacement field "D" is defined as +, where is the vacuum permittivity (also called permittivity of free space), E is the electric field, and P is the (macroscopic) density of the permanent and induced electric dipole moments in the material, called the polarization density.
Typical dipole moments for simple diatomic molecules are in the range of 0 to 11 D. Molecules with symmetry point groups or containing inversion symmetry will not have a permanent dipole moment, while highly ionic molecular species have a very large dipole moment, e.g. gas-phase potassium bromide, KBr, with a dipole moment of 10.41 D. [3] A proton and an electron 1 Å apart have a dipole ...
The work function is not simply dependent on the "internal vacuum level" inside the material (i.e., its average electrostatic potential), because of the formation of an atomic-scale electric double layer at the surface. [7] This surface electric dipole gives a jump in the electrostatic potential between the material and the vacuum.
The polarizability of an atom or molecule is defined as the ratio of its induced dipole moment to the local electric field; in a crystalline solid, one considers the dipole moment per unit cell. [1] Note that the local electric field seen by a molecule is generally different from the macroscopic electric field that would be measured externally.