Obviously the Ag atom didn't have just one electron but it's the outermost lone electron that is usually in the 5s orbital which is important.'Usually'. BC can probably comment better on this, but I presume by that wording that it is not always the case. The higher orbitals can only get 'full' if there are electrons in higher orbitals. The outer one can only hold 8. So I guess Ag is where you get this new lone guy in the outermost orbital, but I can also imagine an atom in an excited state that has more than one out there.
All the other electrons are assumed to form a reasonably complete cloud with enough symmetry that they contribute a net 0 magnetic moment.Today I learned ...
Just to explain why they bothered with Ag atoms instead of using just a simple electron beam - they wanted an overall Neutral charged particle.Any atom fits that bill. Surely there's something other than Ag that fits the bill of having a lone electron in the higher orbital. Lithium seems the obvious choice.
Now, just to check I've understood this experiment. If, for some reason, the outer electron was not in the 5s orbital (corresponding to quantum numbers n=5, l=0) but instead it was in the 5p orbital (quantum numbers n=5, l=1), would we get a different set of spots?OK, that seems to be the excited state I mentioned. Not a lower electron joining in the 5s, but the lone one jumping to a higher energy state. The 5p orbitals are not spherically symmetric, so given three possible 5p orbitals and 2 spin states, perhaps that's 6 dots not including the two 5s dots. BC perhaps can correct me on this. It was a very naive answer.
BC can probably comment better on thisI used the chemists preference for s, p, d orbitals instead of the physicist's preference for l quantum numbers just because I know there are a few chemists in the audience. Double the audience, double the replies (was my thinking).
OK, that seems to be the excited state I mentioned.Electrons being excited from their usual ground state is exactly the problem, or issue that concerns me. It could be the outer 5s electron going elsewhere (as described in my post) OR some of the inner electrons going outwards. Either of these should change the total magnetic dipole moment of the atom.
so given three possible 5p orbitals and 2 spin states, perhaps that's 6 dots not including the two 5s dotsRecall that the z-component of the dipole moment is going to be just a scalar not a vector quantity. The choice of p orbital and the choice of spin all contribute to just one scalar quantity. There are 3 different p orbitals exactly as you stated and depending on which you choose, the contribution is +1, 0 or -1 (in Bohr magneton units). The contribution from spin will be +½ or -½. The contributions from each thing are of very similar sizes and not well spread, so you do not get 6 different total dipole moments.
This gives a set of four values: -1½ , - ½ , +½, +1½ (in units of μB ).
Any atom fits that bill (being Neutral). Surely there's something other than Ag that fits the bill of having a lone electron in the higher orbital. Lithium seems the obvious choice.I'm not sure why Ag was choosen. Some reasons are known to me and were declared. There are probably practical reasons for not choosing a simpler atom. For example, Lithium would react violently and you just won't have pure Lithum in your experiment for long. Silver is considerably less reactive for something that does usually have a unpaired electron in an outer s orbital. I don't know.... my best guess.
Recall that the z-component of the dipole moment is going to be just a scalar not a vector quantity. The choice of p orbital and the choice of spin all contribute to just one scalar quantity. There are 3 different p orbitals exactly as you stated and depending on which you choose, the contribution is +1, 0 or -1 (in Bohr magneton units). The contribution from spin will be +½ or -½. The contributions from each thing are of very similar sizes and not well spread, so you do not get 6 different total dipole moments.OK, that makes sense
There are probably practical reasons for not choosing a simpler atom. For example, Lithium would react violently and you just won't have pure Lithum in your experiment for long.Ah yes, spitting acid (or in this case, a strong base) at a screen might not be the best option.
Fundamentally, a silver atom has an odd number of electrons.Well that is satisfied by half the elements then.
So, when they try to pair up, there will always be one left over.
The magnetic effects of the paired electrons will cancel out.I'll agree that the dipole moment due to spin cancels. For paired up electrons you'll obviously have one electron with spin up and one spin down.
That's why you can ignore them and also why you can pretty much ignore what orbital the leftover one is in.
The experiment was done in a high vacuum.I don't know. I don't know why Silver was chosen other than the reasons outlined in the first post. It does seem like an unusual choice. I was hoping a chemist could tell me why it was chosen.
Exactly what is the lithium or whatever expected to react with?