Dipole Moment

The electric dipole moment for a pair of opposite charges of magnitude q is defined as the magnitude of the charge times the distance between them and the defined direction is toward the positive charge. It is a useful concept in atoms and molecules where the effects of charge separation are measurable, but the distances between the charges are too small to be easily measurable. It is also a useful concept in dielectrics and other applications in solid and liquid materials.

Applications involve the electric field of a dipole and the energy of a dipole when placed in an electric field.


Dipole fieldDipole potentialElectric quadrupole
Index

Electric dipole concepts
 
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Electric Dipole Potential

The potential of an electric dipole can be found by superposing the point charge potentials of the two charges:

Show equipotential lines
Potentials for other charge geometries
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Voltage concepts

Electric dipole concepts
 
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Electric Dipole Field

The electric field of an electric dipole can be constructed as a vector sum of the point charge fields of the two charges:

Direction of
electric dipole
Show equipotential lines
Index

Electric dipole concepts
 
HyperPhysics***** Electricity and Magnetism R Nave
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