Stern-Gerlach experiment
ID: stern-gerlach-experiment
The Stern-Gerlach experiment is a fundamental experiment in quantum mechanics that demonstrates the quantization of angular momentum and the existence of quantum spin. It was first conducted by Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach in 1922. ### Setup: The experiment involves the following components: 1. **Beam of Silver Atoms**: A narrow beam of neutral silver atoms is used. Silver atoms have a single unpaired electron in their outer shell, leading to a net spin and magnetic moment.
Originally done with (neutral) silver atoms in 1921, but even clearer theoretically was the hydrogen reproduction in 1927 by T. E. Phipps and J. B. Taylor.
The hydrogen experiment was apparently harder to do and the result is less visible, TODO why: physics.stackexchange.com/questions/33021/why-silver-atoms-were-used-in-stern-gerlach-experiment
The Stern-Gerlach Experiment by Educational Services, Inc (1967)
Source. Featuring MIT Professor Jerrold R. Zacharias. Amazing experimental setup demonstration, he takes apart much of the experiment to show what's going on. New to topics? Read the docs here!