Spin Quantum Number

[ArkansasRanger]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I know it can be -1/2 or +1/2, but am I missing something? If the electron has either of those, does this tell us if it's spinning clockwise or counter clockwise?

 

[Passion4Sci]

I know it can be -1/2 or +1/2, but am I missing something? If the electron has either of those, does this tell us if it's spinning clockwise or counter clockwise?

​

Errm, well no.

Think of it this way... , even if electrons were spinning physically like planets, the question wouldn't make sense. Suppose an electron was spinning "clockwise" around a nucleus. If you flipped the atom upside down (try it with a ball if you like) it would now be spinning "counterclockwise". It would only make sense if atoms had an "up" and a "down." In any case, though, electrons aren't actually bits of matter spinning in physical space like planets around a star.

quoting you made my font weird. lol. s cannot refer to CW/CCW rotation. That's irrelevant. (Orbital cloud).

I mean, I guess in a frame of reference, there is spin up and spin down... but never have I been asked if +1/2 was CW or -1/2 was CCW because depending on your personal vantage, it'd be relative.

So tl;dr... no.

 

[phathead]

it was always my understanding that they are just of opposite spins. doesn't mean one way is clockwise or not, just that they are opposite

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Yeah, I don't know about the font either. It changed mysteriously in the midst of typing. I think it's back to normal now.

I recall the teacher today using his fist to illustrate something about spin and wondered if it were connected, but I was watching maintenance mow the yard outside thinking "you probably ought not be mowing that freshly laid sod yet." Some of it's not there now, lol. Back on track, I have to draw some diagrams of the various n, l, m1, s, etc and didn't now how to include the s.

Thanks guys.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Yeah, I don't know about the font either. It changed mysteriously in the midst of typing. I think it's back to normal now.

I recall the teacher today using his fist to illustrate something about spin and wondered if it were connected, but I was watching maintenance mow the yard outside thinking "you probably ought not be mowing that freshly laid sod yet." Some of it's not there now, lol. Back on track, I have to draw some diagrams of the various n, l, m1, s, etc and didn't now how to include the s.

Thanks guys.

Interesting assignment... I am so happy I didn't have to do that. That kind of tedium kills me. Hopefully you don't have to draw any F-orbitals. LOL!

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Interesting assignment... I am so happy I didn't have to do that. That kind of tedium kills me. Hopefully you don't have to draw any F-orbitals. LOL!

I've been thinking F... orbitals for most of the day.

 

[Passion4Sci]

I've been thinking F... orbitals for most of the day.

Yea, you'll continue to, too. Worst part of Gen Chem if you ask me.

 

[rxlea]

🤣

 

[OChemProf]

I know it can be -1/2 or +1/2, but am I missing something? If the electron has either of those, does this tell us if it's spinning clockwise or counter clockwise?

Don't think too much about this.....phathead has it right.....the spin quantum number can be -1/2 or +1/2......and there's no correlation between the sign of s and whether the electron is spinning cw or ccw.....

Just remember that the number (as do all quantum numbers) tells you something about the energy level of that particular electron.

The origin of this quantum number comes from the fact that a spinning charge generates its own magnetic field (determined by right hand rule) and the two possibilities (-1/2 or +1/2) are whether the electrons magnetic field aligns or opposes an external magnetic field. For those of you who have had organic chemistry, this is the basis of NMR spectroscopy (except that the spin occurs with the nucleus and not an electron). This can also be used to study odd electron molecules (radicals, etc) in a technique called electron spin resonance (ESR).

 

[Passion4Sci]

I had it right before Phathead had it right.

Yeesh.

 

[Project2015]

Yeah, I don't know about the font either. It changed mysteriously in the midst of typing. I think it's back to normal now.

I recall the teacher today using his fist to illustrate something about spin and wondered if it were connected, but I was watching maintenance mow the yard outside thinking "you probably ought not be mowing that freshly laid sod yet." Some of it's not there now, lol. Back on track, I have to draw some diagrams of the various n, l, m1, s, etc and didn't now how to include the s.

Thanks guys.

In diagrams, the spin is denoted by the shading or lack thereof.