Re: point particles

[Bob Sciamanda <trebor@VELOCITY.NET>]

Huh? The center of mass location has nothing to do with the electrical
dipole moment,  the dipole moment is  calculable from only a knowledge of
the charge distribution.

In answer to another, related query, the dipole moment of a charge
distribution is in general dependent upon one's choice of origin for the
calculation.  But if the monopole moment is zero (overall electrical
neutrality) the dipole moment is independent of the choice of origin.

Bob Sciamanda
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (Em)
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor/
trebor@velocity.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard A. Lindgren" <ral5q@VIRGINIA.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 3:44 PM
Subject: Re: point particles


> . . .
> If the electron had a slight displacement of its center of
> mass to its center of charge, it would have what is called
> an electric dipole moment.  . . .