Spin State
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Spin State
Does anyone know how the value 1/2 was determined to be used for spin state ( since spin state can only be +1/2 or -1/2)? Does this value have any significance ?
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Re: Spin State
I'm not entirely sure but I looked it up online and it says that the value is 1/2 because because a particle needs to be fully rotated twice before having getting to the same initial configuration.
Re: Spin State
the way it was calculated is well beyond our scope but the experiment which found out about the number 1/2 is the Stern–Gerlach experiment(experiment with the deflected silver atoms discussed briefly in a lecture). Spin is known as intrinsic angular momentum and its not actually referring to particles spinning. All we need to know is that there are 2 states in which paired electrons can be in(the number itself isnt important right now). (fermions have 1/2 -1/2 spins not every particle)
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Re: Spin State
I would assume because in an orbital there is 2 options of which way it "spins". So +1/2 and -1/2 is to differentiate between them
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Re: Spin State
I don't think you will use it mathematically, but knowing how to find either the +1/2 or -1/2 spin state is important!
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Re: Spin State
I don't think we need to know about the specifics of how we got the value exactly; just that + means upward spin and - means downward spin.
Re: Spin State
Knowing the spin state differentiates the atom from another atom. No two atoms are allowed to have the same configuration which is why this is important.
Re: Spin State
Just to clarify, when we do the spin state we have to first fill out all of the orbitals before putting two states together, right?
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