1. The degree to which a material or substance can be polarized, especially the ease with which the electron cloud of an atom or molecule can be displaced by an electric field.
Usage: technical; physics; chemistry

Examples

• The polarizability of a noble gas atom is relatively low compared to that of a halogen atom.
• Chemists measure polarizability to understand how molecules respond to electric fields.
• The polarizability of water molecules contributes to its ability to dissolve many ionic compounds.
• In quantum mechanics, polarizability is related to the size and electron distribution of an atom.
• Materials with high polarizability are useful in the design of optical devices.