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The
debye (symbol:
D) (; ) is a
CGS unit (a non-
SI metric unit) of
electric dipole moment named in honour of the physicist
Peter J. W. Debye. It is defined as 1
statcoulomb-
centimetre. Historically the debye was defined as the dipole moment resulting from two charges of opposite sign but an equal magnitude of 10
-10 statcoulomb (generally called e.s.u. (electrostatic unit) in older literature), which were separated by 1
ångström. This gave a convenient unit for molecular dipole moments.