Answer to Question #157956 in Electricity and Magnetism for Satyam

Question

Explain Quadrapole moment.

Answer 1

Answer

The nuclear electric quadrupole moment is a parameter which describes the effective shape of the ellipsoid of nuclear charge distribution. 

 If a nucleus is not spherically symmetric, it will have a non-zero electric quadrupole moment, so the measurement of the quadrupole moment is a test of the shell theory. Since the quadrapole moment depends upon the size and charge of the nucleus, a better comparison is obtained by Normalizing for those factors, giving what is called a "reduced quadrupole moment".