On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 3:05 PM, <mix...@bigpond.com> wrote: However neither exist when an electron is freed from an atom, hence free > electrons have no spin, and thus spin is not an intrinsic property of the > electron. Prove me wrong! (please!) ;) >
If we say that the s quantum number (aka "intrinsic spin") is contingent, then we will probably need either to decouple fermi statistics from this value, or to suggest that fermi statistics are similarly contingent. Note that some electrons in a metal are not strongly bound to a nucleus but still obey fermi statistics. Eric
