this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
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[–] Womble@lemmy.world 30 points 2 days ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

All electrons have spin 1/2, that's a property of it being an electron. They have a spin vector (the arrow shown) and whether it is in the same direction or opposite direction to the magnetic field it's in determines where it is plus or minus.

Now you might think "but what if it is not entirely aligned with the field, then it wouldn't be 1/2", which is true, on aggregate for large numbers of electrons, but if you ever look at a single electron its spin will either be "up" or "down" never any other orientation.

This is the kind of thing people are referring to when they say "no one understands QM", we know it is the case, we can measure it and predict it, but it makes no fucking sense.

[–] ewigkaiwelo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That makes sence though, thanks for clearing that up

[–] chortle_tortle@mander.xyz 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think where the sense starts to fall through is in remembering that it's not a ball though. It's a wave, and the spin only in one direction when interacting with something else, otherwise it's akin to three parts spinning clockwise, and one part spinning counter-clockwise. 🫠

[–] ewigkaiwelo@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

Ah much better, thank you