A description is given of the molecular and morphological structure of polyvinylidene fluoride and from this description a classical model is proposed for calculating the piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. The model consists of an array of crystal lamellae with a net moment from aligned dipoles in the crystals and compensating space charge on the crystal surfaces. The results for no compensation and complete compensation essentially bracket experimentally observed results and indicate that the largest contribution to the activity of this polymer arises from bulk dimensional changes rather than from changes in molecular dipole moments.