Molecular electrostatics. Part 1.—Theory of disordered-multipole internal electric fields in fluids

Abstract

In a fluid, each molecule experiences a fluctuating disorder-induced electric field (DIF) due to the charge-distributions of the randomly wandering and tumbling molecules around it. This field has a non-zero RMS average. Expressions for the RMS-DIF are derived in terms of the dimensions and multipole expansion of the molecules, and are used to calculate values for various fluids. They lie in the range 10⁸–10¹¹ V m^–1.