Skip to main content

Result of the Stern-Gerlach Experiment

 

 

The Stern-Gerlach experiment is one of the experiments that best demonstrates the reality of quantum physics. In 1922, Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach devised a highly effective experiment to test Bohr's theory of discrete angular momentum. Let's take an in-depth look at the experimental setup below.



Stern and Gerlach used Ag atoms with 47 atoms to perform this experiment. Ag atoms with 47 atoms have 5s1 unpaired electrons in their final orbital orbitals.

Ag atoms are heated in a furnace to give them high energy. Ag atoms with high energy spins oriented in different directions are passed through the collimators in bunches and then in an inhomogeneous magnet and hit the observation screen. There are two important points here.

One of these important points is that an inhomogeneous magnet was used in the experiment. As you can see in the setup, the N pole is wide and the S pole has pointed ends. The magnetic field lines are more intense at the pointed end of the S pole.

If the dipole moment of the electrons is oriented in the same direction as the externally applied inhomogeneous magnetic field, the potential energy of the particles becomes minimum and the particles are directed towards the S pole. However, the potential energy of the particles is maximum if the dipole moment is not in the same direction as the externally applied inhomogeneous magnetic field. Since nature tends to have minimum energy, our particles will be oriented toward the N pole.

The second important point is that when we think classically, we could expect that we would observe a continuous distribution on the observation screen since we thought that the spins of Ag
The second important point is that when we think classically, we could expect that we would observe a continuous distribution on the observation screen since we thought that the spins of Ag atoms circulating in the furnace with the Boltzmann distribution would have every value. atoms circulating in the furnace with the Boltzmann distribution would have every value.

However, the Stern-Gerlach experiment clearly showed that after passing through the inhomogeneous magnet leaving the furnace, the spins of the Ag electrons make two intermittent peaks. As a result, it was understood that the spins were quantized. Thanks to this important information, it has been possible to understand the working logic of quantum and improve its applications.





Reference

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Energy-level-diagram-of-an-S1-2-moment-in-a-magnetic-field-B_fig28_263685155

Weinert, F. (1995). "Wrong theory—right experiment: The significance of the Stern–Gerlach experiments". Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. 26B: 75–86.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bloch Sphere – Geometric Representation of Quantum State

    It is very difficult to visualize quantum states before our eyes. The Bloch sphere represents quantum state functions quite well. The Bloch sphere is named after physicist Felix Bloch. As you can see in the Bloch sphere figure below, it geometrically shows the pure states of two-level quantum mechanical systems. The poles of the Bloch sphere consist of bits |0⟩ and |1⟩. Classically, the point on the sphere indicates either 0 or 1. However, from a quantum mechanics point of view, quantum bits contain possibilities to be found on the entire surface of the sphere. Traditionally, the z-axis represents the |0⟩ qubit, and the z-axis the |1⟩ qubit. When the wave function in superposition is measured, the state function collapses to one of the two poles no matter where it is on the sphere. The probability of collapsing into either pole depends on which pole the vector representing the qubit is closest to. The angle θ that the vector makes with the z-axis determines this probabilit...
1 comment
Read more

Statement of Bell's Inequality

 One of the most important applications of quantum mechanics is Bell's inequality. In 1965, John Stewart Bell actually thought that Einstein might be right and tried to prove it, but proved that quantum logic violated classical logic. It was a revolutionary discovery. Let's look at its mathematically simple explanation. To create the analogy, let's first write a classical inequality.   This inequality above is a classic expression. The quantum analogy of this expression represents the Bell inequality. With just one difference. Bell's inequality shows that the above equation is violated. Expressing Bell's inequality by skipping some complicated mathematical intermediates; While there is no such situation in the classical world that will violate the inequality we mentioned at the beginning, it is difficult to find a situation that does not violate this inequality in the quantum world. Reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMyWl6Pq904 https://slideplay...
1 comment
Read more

Bernstein–Vazirani Algorithm

  Quantum computers currently available are not sufficient to solve every existing classical problem due to their own characteristics. This does not mean that they are inferior to classical computers, or that, on the contrary, quantum computers should give all kinds of advantages over classical computers. Popular quantum algorithms solved in quantum computers are algorithms created by taking advantage of the superposition and entanglement properties of particles. So, they are algorithms created to show the prominent features of quantum properties. Today I will talk about an enjoyable algorithm that demonstrates the efficiency and speed of these quantum features. Known as the Bernstein - Vazirani algorithm is a quantum algorithm invented by Ethan Bernstein and Umesh Vazirani in 1992. The purpose of this algorithm, which is a game, is to find a desired number. To put it more clearly, let's keep in mind a string of binary numbers, for example, 1011001. Next, let's write an algori...
Post a Comment
Read more