Is electron's “spin” real?

[israel socratus]

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.”

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

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.

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El martes, 29 de junio de 2021 a las 16:51:47 UTC+2, Phillip Helbig (undress

Post by Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)

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.

An electron orbiting a nucleus (in one of the allowed energy levels)
would have two possible values of its orbital angular momentum if the
electron has an inner, non isotropous, structure (e.g. with axial
symmetry) due to which its directional electric charge is slightly
different along the two possible directions that it may present (show)
to the nucleus to stay in a stable orbit. The well known measured value
of the electric charge of the electron would be the average (over all
its intrinsic directions) of its directional electric charges. Such
average electric charge is measured applying Coulomb's law in ordinary
scenarios in which the intrinsic structure of the electron is randomly
aligned in space.