Debye

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 1×10−18 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.