Polarisation in dielectrics, anyone?

[tessellations]

I have been studying polarization in dielectrics recently. I got stuck after coming to Claussius Mossoti equation. I can't understand it's importance. I read that it is used to determine molecular structure but how exactly?
I've just joined this forum, hope someone can help. :) TIA
P.S: Sorry for the typo in the heading.

 

[tiny-tim]

welcome to pf!

hi tessellations! welcome to pf!

I got stuck after coming to Claussius Mossoti equation. … I read that it is used to determine molecular structure but how exactly?

hmm … what distinguishes us from the snakes is our ablility to restrain our use of s's !

the polarisability of one atom is the tensor which relates the local electric field to the dipole moment

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius–Mossotti_relation#Dielectric_Constant_.26_Polarizability" …

The polarizability is an atomic property, but the dielectric constant will depend on the manner in which the atoms are assembled to form a crystal.​

so if you know the dielectric constant, and the polarisability of the individual atoms, you can work backwards and find the molecular structure

 

[tessellations]

I'm still finding it hard to understand its implications.
Anyways, thanks for taking out time to answer me. I'd really appreciate if you or others could explain it in some other manner. :) Thanks!