The polarizations of liquids

Abstract

Equations suggested previously by Raman and Krishnan, Goss, Onsager, Böttcher, Frenkel, and Scholte are reviewed, and their applicabilities to observations by experiment are considered. Difficulties arise in estimating the dimensions of the cavity appropriate for a given molecule. It is shown that by taking this generally as ellipsoidal, with semi-axes a, b, and c, and computing the product abc from the molar volume at the melting point, a generalized Scholte equation gives satisfactory forecasts of the polarizations of liquids and vapours, and of the variations of the former with temperature and pressure, for a number of representative substances.