What do you understand by dipole moment? Write its applications.

Que.: What do you understand by dipole moment? Write its applications.

Ans.:

Dipole Moment:

When non-identical atoms (A and B) are joined by covalent bond, the pair of electrons will be attracted more strongly to the atom that has higher electronegativity.
If A is more electronegative than B, it has a higher tendency to attract electrons. Thus, the shared pair of electrons it drawn near A leaving a positive charge on the B atom e.g., in a molecule such as HCl the bonding electron pair is not shared equally between hydrogen and chlorine atom.
The chlorine with greater electro-negativity pulls the electron pair towards it. This gives a slightly positive charge (+ q) to the hydrogen atom and slightly negative charge (- q) to the chlorine atom.

Such a molecule with positive charge at one end and the negative charge at the other end is referred to as an electric dipole or dipole and it is said to possess a dipole moment (u).

The dipole moment (H) is a product of the charge at one end and the distance between the opposite charges.

The CGS unit for dipole moment is the debye, symbolized as D. The dipole moment is a vector quantity.

Que.: What do you understand by dipole moment? Write its applications.