Relative permittivity is a dimensionless number that is in general complex.

This is called the relative permittivity or dielectric constant.

Its relative permittivity or dielectric constant reduces steadily from about 1.00536 at the Earth's surface.

One of the disadvantage is the sensitivity to uneven dirt, which can locally change the relative permittivity.

The susceptibility is related to its relative permittivity by:

At 205 C the relative permittivity falls to 33, the same as methanol at room temperature.

A low relative permittivity allows for higher-frequency usage.

The magnitude of these normal vectors is given by the square root of the relative permittivity.

In an anisotropic material, the relative permittivity may be a tensor, causing birefringence.

For time-variant electromagnetic fields, this quantity becomes frequency-dependent and in general is called relative permittivity.

However, in these cases it is technically the relative permittivity that matters, as they are not operated in the electrostatic limit.

As established in the previous section, the most important quantity in radiative transfer calculations of sea ice is the relative permittivity.

The solvent plays no role other than providing a medium of constant relative permittivity (dielectric constant).

Here ε is known as the relative permittivity tensor or dielectric tensor.

It has a high dielectric constant (relative permittivity), making it a good solvent for ionic species.

The relative permittivity of a material under given conditions reflects the extent to which it concentrates electrostatic lines of flux.

In anisotropic media (such as non cubic crystals) the relative permittivity is a second rank tensor.

Similar as for absolute permittivity, relative permittivity can be decomposed into real and imaginary parts:

Despite the reduction in relative permittivity, many salts remain soluble in superheated water until the critical point is approached.

The imaginary part of the (frequency-dependent) relative permittivity is a measure for the ability of a dielectric material to convert electromagnetic field energy into heat.

The extensive hydrogen bonded network in water tends to oppose this alignment, and the degree of alignment is measured by the relative permittivity.

Besides the relative permittivity of the ceramic, the size and the number of layers determines the later capacitance value of the capacitor.

While its intrinsic relative permittivity is about 100, how its large effective permittivity is generated is a matter of debate.

The actual permittivity is then calculated by multiplying the relative permittivity by ε:

Even if an obstruction is a perfect insulator, it may have some reflective properties on account of its relative permittivity differing from that of the atmosphere.