Electric Properties of Liquids

Abstract

An introduction to the interaction of electromagnetic fields with liquids is presented in this chapter, including the macroscopic parameters that characterize this interaction: permittivity and conductivity. The generalization of Maxwell classic field equations to linear, isotropic and homogeneous media for fields with harmonic time dependence is discussed. Also, the approximations for different characteristic scales and the validity of the classical treatment are introduced. The frequency-dependent complex permittivity is defined to describe electromagnetic energy dissipation and relaxation processes in materials. The phenomenological description of the superposition of several relaxation processes is presented, in terms of the Havriliak–Negami dielectric function. The most important dielectric polarization processes in liquids, electronic, orientation and interfacial, are related to the properties of the liquid at the molecular scale.