Abstract
I HAVE made recently some observations on the electrostatic moments of molecules. A beam of molecules, all having sensibly parallel velocities, was passed through an electrostatic field, so arranged that the quantity d2v/dx2 (x measured perpendicular to the direction of the molecular motion) was of the order of 106 e.s.u./cm.2. Experiments were made on the metal potassium and on the compounds sodium chloride, mercuric chloride, and arsenic trioxide. It was found that potassium had a moment too small to detect, and it has been impossible so far to induce any polarisation in the molecule in the largest field used—330 e.s.u./cm. There was no deflexion which might be put down to the molecules (K)n. If such are present their concentration must be very small—less than 1 per cent, of the total number, or they have no moment and the field cannot polarise an appreciable number of them.
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CLARK, R. Electrostatic Moments of Molecules. Nature 118, 555 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/118555a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/118555a0
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