Electron spin

[Claire_Kim_2F]

I was wondering how to determine if the electron is spinning +1/2 or -1/2?

[Victoria Dao 3G]

Hi! I don't think that there is a mathematical formula to calculate whether the 1/2 will be positive or negative (or at least one that we'll have to know for the midterm specifically), but we do know that two electrons are always the opposite spin of each other within one orbital. Therefore, if the last electron that enters is spin up, then the next electron will have to be spin down. When assigning spin up and down, I'd use Hund's rule and assign all spin up or all spin down before doubling to avoid confusion. Hope this helps!

[Vince Li 2A]

There really isn't a way to determine if the electron is spinning +1/2 or -1/2. Pretty much the only practical reason why those two numbers exist is to communicate that the two electrons in the state are spinning in opposite directions, in that they are not parallel.

[Austin Aldujaili 2D]

For electron spin, you do not need to worry about figuring it out if one is upward or downward spin (+1/2 or -1/2). The idea of electron spin as the 4th quantum number shows that there will never be electrons with the same set of quantum numbers, they will always have individual electron configurations because of the differences in spin.

[t_rasul2I]

There is not really a way to determine if an electron has a plus or minus 1/2 spin. Its just a numerical representation of the Pauli Exclusion principle where two orbitals in the same orbital will have opposite spins.

[Simi Kapila_3E]

I don't believe there is a way to determine the spin, at least not where we are yet. I think it is just important to know that those are the only numerical options for the spin quantum number.

[Linette Choi 3L]

I don't believe there is a way to determine the electron spin from where we are now. For now, I would just keep in mind that electrons in the same orbitals go (spin) in different directions.

[Madisen Brown -1C]

From my understanding, there's no definitive way to calculate the spin up or spin down. I think it's mainly important to know that no element has the same 4 quantum numbers.

[Zainab Jamali 1H]

There really isn't a way to determine if the electron is spinning +1/2 or -1/2. Pretty much the only practical reason why those two numbers exist is to communicate that the two electrons in the state are spinning in opposite directions, in that they are not parallel.

I agree, it is simply to differentiate between the two electrons in each orbital but the actual direction of the spin is relative.

[Yichen Fan 3A]

Like most people have said the electron spin is not found by the mathematical equation. In fact it was a property that is not confirmed until the experiment of electron beam passing through the magnet. The scientist found that when an beam of electron passes through the magnet it splits into two, one at the top of the screen and the other at the bottom, therefore they concluded that the electrons have +1/2 and -1/2 charge, this property is shown by that experiment.

[Aydin Karatas 1F]

Unlike the other quantum numbers, m_s was found experimentally, so there is no mathematical model to follow. If you see m_s= +1/2 or -1/2, it is denoting a specific electron in a specific subshell.

[Tanner Bartyczak 1K]

I don't think it is an actual mathematical value. It is simply used to differentiate two electrons that are the same in all other ways. Up and down are subjective, especially when you are an electron.

[Claudia_Danysh_2B]

Hey, I don't know if there is actually a way to tell other than looking at the periodic table and identifying which column the atom is in and which spin that column correlates to in spin!