Jump to content

Electron spin


Chriss

Recommended Posts

And what is spin up and spin down.

 

Those are the two possible orientations of the electron spin. You pick an axis for measurement, and the projection along that axis will be either + or - one unit of angular momentum (Planck's constant). We call that up or down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

n is the principle quantum number, aka the energy level

l is the orbital angular momentum quantum number

m is the magnetic quantum number, which is the projection of the orbital angular momentum on the quantization axis. l ≥ |m|

i.e. a n electron in an l=1 state can have m = -1, 0 or 1

s is the spin quantum number for a system with spin S. Similar to the m and l relation, a spin 1/2 particle can have s = ±1/2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So how the magnetic filed are created by moving charges ?

 

That's one way of creating magnetic fields, and a classical notion. Fundamental particles are quantum particles, so they have properties without having the actual classical behavior. Spin is angular momentum, as if it were spinning, but without the classical motion. A spinning charge would give you a magnetic field.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

What about magnets ?

 

What about them?

 

Permanent magnets are materials (like iron) where the electrons' magnetic moments line up and also have a macroscopic structure where the atoms can be held in a fixed position, ensuring the fields add.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So in a magnet all the electrons in an atom ar orbiting clockwise or counter clockwise ? I am a little bit confused. And i don't intend to bother someone.

 

I think i started to get it. In every orbit there are two electrons one spinning clockwise and one counter clockwise. Hmm...

So what happens in a magnet is that on one side of the magnet all electrons that not have a match on the orbit are spinning in one direction and on the other pole of the magnet all electrons that not have a match spin in oposite direction ?

Thanks !

Edited by Chriss
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All centers in the same direction is impossible, because if one aligns up, its side neighbours will naturally align down.

 

But in ferromagnetic materials like soft iron or hard magnets, the neighbours have different strengths, so that one over two aligned up and the next down results in a net global field. It can also be local electrons up and shared electrons down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All centers in the same direction is impossible, because if one aligns up, its side neighbours will naturally align down.

 

But in ferromagnetic materials like soft iron or hard magnets, the neighbours have different strengths, so that one over two aligned up and the next down results in a net global field. It can also be local electrons up and shared electrons down.

 

No, in iron there are unpaired electrons in the d shell. Hund's rule says that these will have the same spin. That's the source of the net field for a single atom. The fact that the iron atoms can connect such that neighbor atoms add to the field is what allows it to become a permanent magnet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it a relation between electron spin and direction in wich is rotating on the orbit clockwise or counter clockwise. My question is in wich direction is spinning electron with spin up (clockwise or counter clockwise) ? Thanks !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A particle that is spin up has angular momentum in the up direction. There is no actual rotation.

 

Classically this would be the result of the right-hand rule, which would be counter-clockwise rotation if you were looking at the vector, i.e. down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

What i didn't understood well is Stern Gerlach experiment. And my question is that they found out that electrons have a north and south pole magnet, and half of them went up and half down trought the magnets ? I know that they shoot silver atoms, so how they know about the electrons spin ?

Edited by Chriss
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not that half went up and half went down, it's that the deflection was a set amount rather than a continuum. Which means that the magnetic moment (resulting from the intrinsic angular momentum) was quantized in value and in orientation, which is not a classical result.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How they knew about electrons if they shoot atoms ? and also why they didn't shoot electrons with an electron gun ? (it wasn't knew ?)

 

They knew that electrons are in atoms. You don't want to use electrons because they are charges, and will deflect in a magnetic field as a result of the moving through it. Atoms are neutral, and the only deflection would be from the inherent magnetic moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.