Recently, Jhon, Grosh, Ree, and Eyring used the significant-structure theory to explain all the thermodynamic and transport properties of water, assuming that it contains domains of about 46 molecules which change their structure as a unit from an ``ice I-like'' to an ``ice III-like'' state. Following this, Hobbs, Jhon, and Eyring explained the dielectric constant of liquid water. According to their theory, an applied field will make those domains grow which are favorably oriented with respect to the field at the expense of the less favorably oriented until a steady state is achieved. This domain theory of liquid water has been applied to several cases. Surface tension of liquid water has been successfully calculated in good agreement with experiment applying the generalized method of Change et al. Assumptions were made that the molecules in the top layers are in an asymmetric field and tend to orient in the direction of the field. This leads to continuous changes in the density for the various layers. The calculation of the dielectric constant of various alcohols was carried out by a similar scheme to that used for liquid water, and the effect of the G factor in the formula has been discussed.
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Jhon et al. (1967) studied this question.