The Time of Relaxation in Crystals of Rochelle Salt

Abstract

A semiquantitative theory of the action of mechanical and electrical forces is given, using the concept of two relaxtion times. The theory is shown to offer qualitative explanations of numerous features of the experimental results such as the phenomenon of "creep" and the asymmetrical rates of polarization and depolarization observed by Kurchatov and Staub. Experiments on the dielectric constant and power loss have been made over a range from 1 to 1000 hertz, and dispersion curves have been obtained. The theory is applied to explain various features of the results.