Question

What is an electric dipole?

Answer 1

In order to answer this question, to know about an electric dipole, we will go through the whole explanation of it with the proper example of it. And then we will also discuss its units. And atlast we will discuss whether the net charge on an electric dipole is zero or not.

Complete answer:
A pair of opposite charges $q{\text{ }}and{\text{ }}-q$ separated by a distance $d$ is called an electric dipole. Electric dipoles in space always point from negative charge $- q$ to positive charge $q$ by default. The dipole's centre is defined as the point where $q{\text{ }}and{\text{ }}-q$ meet.
A pair of equal and opposite electric charges whose centres are not coinciding is known as an electric dipole. An induced electric dipole is an atom in which the centre of the negative cloud of electrons has been displaced slightly away from the nucleus by an external electric field. The atom loses its dipolarity when the external field is removed.
Or in other way, a positive and negative charge separation is called an electric dipole. The electric dipole moment is equal to the product of the charge magnitude and the distance between the positive and negative charge centres. $\mu = Q \times r$ .
Here, the charge is $Q$ , and the distance is $r$ .
The electric dipole moment is a measurement of a system's overall polarity, or the separation of positive and negative electrical charges inside it. The $coulomb - meter{\text{ }}\left( {Cm} \right)$ is the SI unit for electric dipole moment; nevertheless, the $debye(D)$ is a regularly used unit in atomic physics and chemistry.

Note: Because both charges in a dipole have the same sign, they will eventually cancel out, resulting in zero net charge on the electric dipole. However, because they are separated by a distance, the electric field will not be zero and will produce some electric field.