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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: How many spots are produced from Stern-Gerlach apparatus that rotates?
« on: Yesterday at 09:41:26 »
Starting from ES's initial experiment, my interpretation is that
1. We begin with an unpolarised stream of neutral atoms (never mind charged particles at this stage) with their spins randomly and isotropically distributed
2. An inhomogeneous field polarises and separates the stream into two streams, with spin up U and spin down D.
3. Now consider only the U stream. Again, an inhomogeneous field perpendicular to the first, separates this into UL and UR streams.
4. Suppose that the second field was at 45 deg rather than 90. Same principle would surely split U into U(45) and U(135)
5. So any polarised stream S passing through a field at angle X to the plane of polarisation would be split into S(X) and S(-X)
6. And after N distinct iterations of X we would have 2N distinct streams each separated by X degrees.
1. We begin with an unpolarised stream of neutral atoms (never mind charged particles at this stage) with their spins randomly and isotropically distributed
2. An inhomogeneous field polarises and separates the stream into two streams, with spin up U and spin down D.
3. Now consider only the U stream. Again, an inhomogeneous field perpendicular to the first, separates this into UL and UR streams.
4. Suppose that the second field was at 45 deg rather than 90. Same principle would surely split U into U(45) and U(135)
5. So any polarised stream S passing through a field at angle X to the plane of polarisation would be split into S(X) and S(-X)
6. And after N distinct iterations of X we would have 2N distinct streams each separated by X degrees.
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