Electric dipole moments and resonance in molecules

The idea that a molecule need not necessarily have a single Kossel Lewis-Langmuir electronic structure, but may be a hybrid of several such, is not new in chemistry, Recently, however, it has been given a much more definite meaning, and has been made amenable to quantititative treatment by the application of wave mechanics to the problem; moreover, it is now realised how extensive the phenomenon is, owing largely to the work of Pauling and his collaborators on energies and internuclear distances. It is the purpose of this paper to show that it is possible, from electric dipole moment data, to decide independently whether or not there is resonance in a molecule, and also to obtain a rough idea of the nature of the more important parent structures and of their relative importance.