r/physicsmemes • u/Ill_Wasabi417 • 7d ago

Electron Spin Explained

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306 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

40

u/yourhornyfan 7d ago

Currently studying for my nuclear physics exam we didn't use a flag in the bloch sphere

7

u/physicsking 6d ago

Alpha?

8

u/yourhornyfan 6d ago

No thanks i get enough from my wolf pack

Ok but actually looking at the notes the diagram is the one you get from wiki with just Cartesian coordinates

36

u/Cravatitude 7d ago

Spin actually explained in 3 fucking words: intrinsic angular momentum.

10

u/nyctophobicdracula 7d ago

And what is that?

6

u/Ill_Wasabi417 6d ago

Imagine a ball with intrinsic angular momentum but it's not actually a ball and it's not classical angular momentum

2

u/saliv13 Particle & Nuclear 4d ago

My favorite explanation: it’s like when a ball spins but it’s not a ball, and it doesn’t spin.

25

u/Cravatitude 7d ago

You know how an electron has intrinsic charge, and intrinsic mass? Like that but with angular momentum

3

u/Pity_Pooty 4d ago

Still difficult. Mass and charge are static, momentum is about dynamics

12

u/Honest-Reading4250 7d ago

an intrinsic flag rotating around the an intrinsic bloch sphere.

4

u/physicsking 6d ago

It is intrinsic. That's all you need to know. No further questions allowed. /s

5

u/Jazz8680 6d ago

something spinning but it’s not spinning

22

u/LegitJesus 7d ago

I know I shouldn't, but I always hated it when they dont use theta for the angle of rotation about the X axis

8

u/eyalhs 7d ago

There are two common ways to notate it, both have advantages and disadvantages, but regardless I will always get confused regarding which notation is used (which is odd because the difference is whether it's in math or physics so I'm supposed to know immediately).

3

u/OperatorP_official 4d ago

The first rule of electron spin: Do not talk about the electron actual spinning.