Using Lasers to Demonstrate the Concept of Polarizability: Variations in the Refractive Indices of the o-Halobenzenes

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 2 Issue 5 (1997), S1430-4171(97)05147-X

Using Lasers to Demonstrate the Concept of Polarizability: Variations in the Refractive Indices of the o-Halobenzenes

Gerald R. Van Hecke*, Kerry K. Karukstis, and J. Michael Underhill

Department of Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711

Published online: 26 November 1997

Abstract. Using a simple 633-nm He/Ne or diode laser, the variation of the refractive indices of four ortho-substituted dihalogenated benzenes can be obtained, demonstrating the phenomenon of polarizability. In addition, this exercise is an excellent display of the correspondence between the properties of a chemical system on the macroscopic level and the characteristics of the molecule on a microscopic scale.

Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; lasers; polarizability

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: gerald_vanhecke@hmc.edu)

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