debye

1 9.9

A unit for measuring how positive and negative electric charge is separated in a molecule

noun
/dɪˈbaɪ/

Specialized

: debye

Examples

In 1955, he began his postdoc with another Nobel prizewinner, Peter Debye, at Cornell University.

Academic text (2001)
Crystals with the highest Debye temperatures make the best targets for this technique because they have the weakest lattice vibrations.

Academic text (2005)
The debye is a standard unit used to measure the electric dipole moment of molecules.
In chemistry, the dipole moment is often measured in debye units to assess molecular polarity.
Understanding the electric dipole moment involves utilizing the debye as a measurement unit.

Surface Forms

debye singular

debyes plural

Etymology

Debye is named after the Dutch scientist Peter Debye, who studied where electric charges sit inside molecules. So, a debye is the unit used to measure a molecule's 'dipole moment', which tells how far its positive and negative parts are separated.