Far infrared absorption and quadrupole moment of nitrous oxide

The effects of quadrupole interaction energy and use of consistent Lennard-Jones parameters are shown to give a quadrupole moment Q = 4.05 –4.6 (in units 10^?26 esu) for N₂O from measured integrated infrared intensity due to pair interactions. The figure are considerably smaller than Baise's original Q ≈ 8 and in much better agreement with Q = 3.5 from birefringence.