Polarisability

The tendency of a molecule or substance to become polarised under the influence of an external field.

Polarisation
(of light)

A beam of light can be polarised by passing it through a polarising material, e.g. a Nicol prism, which lets through only the parallel component of plane polarised light.

Polarisation
(of a bond)

An asymmetric distribution of valence electrons in a chemical bond gives rise to polarisation within the bond.

Polarisation
(of a molecule)

This is the modification of the distribution of the internal charges or electrons within molecule as a result of an external field.

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