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S. Ag. Non uniform B-field. oven. N. magnet. screen. 1.2 Stern-Gerlach experiment. Neutral silver atoms pass through a region of inhomogeneous magnetic field Why silver? Why neutral? Why an inhomogeneous field? Found two locations where the silver atoms ended up Why is this odd?.
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S Ag Non uniform B-field oven N magnet screen 1.2 Stern-Gerlach experiment • Neutral silver atoms pass through a region of inhomogeneous magnetic field • Why silver? Why neutral? • Why an inhomogeneous field? • Found two locations where the silver atoms ended up • Why is this odd? Ag: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 4d10 5s1 = 47 Number of electrons 46 + 1 S Angular momentum = ?
S-G historic overview • They thought there should be splitting with the Bohr model becausethey thought that the silver atom should have a h/2pi orbital angularmomentum from that model, when in fact it's zero - L not zero, should see splitting (by S-G), and after much effort,they do and conclude Bohr is right- but why splitting and not uniform if initial orientations arerandom? (Einstein and Ehrenfest)- QM evolves, Bohr model found inadequate- wait, L IS zero, why did they see splitting?- then 5 years later, the idea of intrinsic spin...
Consider our expectations on what should happen to a neutral particle in an inhomogeneous magnetic field: • What does a magnetic field interact with? • How can a neutral atom interact with a magnetic field? • Let’s derive it classically from intro-course principles • What does a simple magnetic dipole look like? • What does the energy look like? • What will the force be and why does the B need to be inhomogeneous? • How do we relate this to angular momentum? • Why do we introduce “spin”? • Does it really “spin”? • What is different between what we expect to observe classically and what we actually observe? • What is a projection? • What does two “spots” tell us about the spin? • What is quantization?
“that” calculation • More rigorous details posted on blackboard • Found μ = (q/2m)L • Have such a term for orbital angular momentum L, “intrinsic spin” S, and for the total angular momentum (the QM sum of L and S) • Generalize: μ = g(q/2m)S • S is the “intrinsic angular momentum” – as if the electron spun on its axis, but NOT physical • g is the gyromagntic/gyroscopic/g-ratio • g is dimensionless • g for electron is one of best known values in physics
What is “intrinsic spin”? • Also called “spin”, or spin angular momentum, or S • It’s a “degree of freedom”, or quantum number: a “state” the particle has • Does interact with magnetic fields like L, but not continuous! • NOT a physical rotation • INTRINSIC property – like charge and rest mass! We have no model for what “makes it up/causes it” for fundamental particles • Shows up most simply in Pauli exclusion principle