The Dielectric Properties of Water and Heavy Water

Abstract

Measurements by a number of different methods of the dielectric constant and loss angle of water and heavy water at three widely separated wavelengths in the region of anomalous dispersion, λ=10 cm., 3 cm., 1.25 cm., are described. Results show that the Debye equations are exactly obeyed, there being a single time of relaxation varying with the temperature; the ratios of the relaxation times of water and heavy water are found to be in quantitative agreement with the ratios of the viscosity over a temperature range, suggesting that the re-orientation mechanism in these liquids is the same as that of viscosity. The value of the activation energy of the re-orientation process is discussed. The value of 5.5 found for the optical dielectric constant gives a reasonable result for the dielectric constant of water on the Onsager theory. This theory is discussed and shown to give a relaxation equation of the Debye type for alternating fields.