ON ELECTRIC SENFTLEBEN-BEENAKKER EFFECT FOR LINEAR POLAR MOLECULES

The influence of an electric field, E, on the shear viscosity of a gas of linear polar molecules is considered and it is shown that to lowest order in the variable E2/p, where p is the equilibrium pressure of the gas, three irreducible angular momentum tensors are required in the irreducible tensor expansion of the distribution function for the gas. The appropriate linearized Waldmann-Snider equation is solved using the moment method, expressions are obtained for the changes brought about by the external electric field in the shear viscosity scheme and these expressions are compared with those previously obtained. © 1969.