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An electric dipole is a pair of equal and opposite electric charges whose centers are not aligned. This can occur when an external electric field shifts the electron cloud of an atom, creating a temporary dipole, or in molecules like water, which have a permanent dipole due to their structure. The product of the magnitude of one charge and the distance between the two charges is known as the electric dipole moment. This moment is a vector quantity, indicating the strength and direction of the dipole, and it tends to align with an external electric field. The unit for electric dipole moment is the coulomb-meter in the SI system. Polarization, a related concept, refers to the induced separation of charge within a material and is measured by the electric dipole moment per unit volume.12

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