Abstract
The dipole moment of a water molecule in liquid water differs from that of the isolated molecule because each molecule is further polarized by the electric field of the surrounding molecules. The effective dipole moment has to be known before a satisfactory statistical mechanical study of water and aqueous solutions is possible. One approach is to study ice rather than water because it has a known, simple structure. However, the recent literature on the theory of the dielectric constant of ice is confused and contradictory; for example, there are two rival theoretical expressions for the dielectric constant in terms of the dipole moment. A simple resolution of this ‘internal field’ problem is proposed here. It is further shown that the Bernal–Fowler–Pauling ice-rules model of ice behaves like a dielectric material, and matching the results of calculations on this model to experiment gives a dipole moment of 3.0 D.
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Adams, D. Theory of the dielectric constant of ice. Nature 293, 447–449 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/293447a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/293447a0
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