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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2005  > June  >
In the Classroom
Misconceptions in Sign Conventions: Flipping the Electric Dipole Moment
James W. Hovick and J. C. Poler
Department of Chemistry, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223
Cover
June 2005
Vol. 82 No. 6
p. 889
Abstract
Most chemists draw the direction of an electric dipole backwards. This inconsistency in sign convention is more than a trivial oversight or matter of convenience. We are introducing an incorrect convention that is central to our student’s understanding of fundamental thermodynamics; which way is up? As a student matures from general chemistry to organic through analytical, physical, inorganic, and biochemistry they are reintroduced to similar, powerful concepts that hold our discipline together. However, this reconnection of chemical principles comes with each subdiscipline’s own idiosyncrasies and a highly contextual framework. Reexamination of a central concept from the perspective of a new subdiscipline should not introduce misconceptions about that concept. When misconceptions introduced through chemical language can be avoided, we should change the way we speak.
More Information
*  Citation
 Hovick, James W.; Poler, J. C. J. Chem. Educ. 2005 82 889.
*  Keywords
 Curriculum; First-Year Undergraduate / General; History / Philosophy; Misconceptions / Discrepant Events; Molecular Properties / Structure; Noncovalent Interactions; Upper-Division Undergraduate
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 April 27, 2005
May 6, 2005
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