Subject: CCL:Dipole moment origin and electrostatics

From: [email-masked] (Kirk Peterson)
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 12:51:18 -0800 (PST)

Just to note, when the  net charge on the system IS nonzero, the conventional 
choice of the origin for the dipole moment is the center of mass.

Cheers,

Kirk Peterson

-------
Kirk A. Peterson
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry       / Email:  [email-masked]
Washington State University   / Office: (509) 375-6350, (509) 372-7282
       and                    / Fax:    (509) 375-6631
Theory, Modeling, and Simulation
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, K1-83
Richland, WA 99352

> 
> Patrick Bultinck recently asked about the choice of the origin for the 
> dipole moment.
> 
> The choice of origin will not matter if the net charge on the system is 
> zero.  The dipole moment of a neutral system is independent of the 
> origin.  The higher order terms, however, will depend on the choice of 
> the origin.
> 
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Dr. Steven M. Risser
> Department of Physics
> East Texas State University 
> Commerce, TX 75429  USA
> EML   : [email-masked]
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> 
>