Is electron's spin real?
Fact.
In 1925, Samuel Goudsmit and George Uhlenbeck claimed that
some of the mischievous features of the hydrogen spectrum could be
successfully explained by assuming that electrons act as if they actually have a spin.
Opinion.
Because electron is spinning with a rotational velocity equivalent to the speed
of light (which is practically impossible) the only conclusion is that an electron
can't spin about its own axis, and thus, spin is just a representative term. Result.
There was a time when we wanted to be told what an electron is.
The question was never answered. No familiar conceptions can be woven
around the electron; it belongs to the waiting list.
--- Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
We know electron by what it does, not by what it is.
In article <29a2dc35-7ff1-4ba1...@googlegroups.com>,
israel socratus <socrat...@gmail.com> writes:
Is electron's spin real?
Fact.
In 1925, Samuel Goudsmit and George Uhlenbeck claimed that
some of the mischievous features of the hydrogen spectrum could be successfully explained by assuming that electrons act as if they actually have a spin.
Opinion.
Because electron is spinning with a rotational velocity equivalent to the speed
of light (which is practically impossible) the only conclusion is that an electron
can't spin about its own axis, and thus, spin is just a representative term.
Result.
There was a time when we wanted to be told what an electron is.
The question was never answered. No familiar conceptions can be woven around the electron; it belongs to the waiting list.
--- Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
We know electron by what it does, not by what it is.Of course, an electron is not a tiny hard sphere spinning with an
angular momentum which can be understood with classical physics.
However, spin is not just a label like color in QCD or isospin, but
really has something to do with angular momentum, as is shown by the Einstein--de Haas effect.
Sysop: | Keyop |
---|---|
Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
Users: | 399 |
Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
Uptime: | 102:15:16 |
Calls: | 8,363 |
Calls today: | 2 |
Files: | 13,165 |
Messages: | 5,898,011 |