The dielectric permittivity of gaseous argon at standard conditions is 1.00054. Find the dipole moment of an argon atom in an electric field of 10 kV/m. Compare with the dipole moment of a water molecule.

Explanation

A characteristic feature of the inert gases is their deformation polarizability. From the formulas of 38.5 we have `che_(e)=n alpha` where
`n=p//kT` is the atomic concentration and a is the polarizability of the atom. The dipole moment of an atom in an electric field is
`pe=alpha epsi_(0)E=(1)/(n) chi_(e)epsi_(0)E`
The atomic concentration at standard conditions is Loschmidt number). Hence
`pe=(chi_(e)epsi_(0)E)/(N_(L))=((epsi-1)epsi_(0)E)/(N_(L))`
Calculations show that even in such strong fields the dipole moment of an argon atom is six orders of magnitude smaller than that of a water molecule