Spin quantum number

10/05/16

“How can we describe the angular momentum of an electron?”

 

The orbits of electrons around the central nucleus of an atom is a very complex matter. And because of this, we will have think to think of creative ways to describe the myriad of elements that make it up. So to make things simpler break this problem down into smaller components, such as the angular momentum. When an electron transits around the central nucleus, it has both an angular momentum from the orbit and another one resulting from the spin around it’s own axis. The combination of these two elements will result in a vector quantity called the spin quantum number. The spin quantum number represents the magnitude (½) and the direction 9+ or -) hat the angular momentum of the current electron. When electrons enter into subshells, they enter each orbital that is currently unoccupied. If the elements only has unpaired electrons, then this spin quantum number will be considered positive, and if the electrons begin to pair up, then the spin quantum number will be considered negative.