Chapter 6
Getting Dizzy with Spin
In This Chapter
Discovering spin with the Stern-Gerlach experiment
Looking at eigenstates and spin notation
Understanding fermions and bosons
Comparing the spin operators with angular momentum operators
Working with spin 1/2 and Pauli matrices
Physicists have suggested that orbital angular momentum is not the only kind of angular momentum present in an atom — electrons could also have intrinsic built-in angular momentum. This kind of built-in angular momentum is called spin. Whether or not electrons actually spin will never be known — they’re as close to point-like particles as you can come, without any apparent internal structure. Yet the fact remains that they have intrinsic angular momentum. And that’s what this chapter is about — the intrinsic, built-in quantum mechanical spin of subatomic particles.
The Stern-Gerlach Experiment and the Case of the Missing Spot
The Stern-Gerlach experiment unexpectedly revealed the existence of spin back in 1922. ...
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