Question

How do you calculate the dipole moment of a molecule?

Answer 1

Dipole Moment:

• Dipole moment generates within a molecule due to separation between the charges, which appears because of the difference in electronegativities within the atoms of the molecule.
• The dipole moment is a vector quantity that has both, magnitude and direction.
• The formula for calculating the dipole moment is that the Dipole moment is the product of the magnitude of the charge and the distance opposite charged ions, which is shown below as;

$\mu (\mathrm{Dipole}\mathrm{moment})=\mathrm{q}(\mathrm{magnitude}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{the}\mathrm{charge})\times \mathrm{l}(\mathrm{distance}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{separation})$

• The strength of the dipole moment is expressed in the unit Debye (D).

Hence, the dipole moment can be calculated by using the above formula as; $\mu =\mathrm{q}\times \mathrm{l}.$