In reply to Eric Walker's message of Wed, 13 Aug 2014 20:16:43 -0700: Hi, [snip] >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
A metal is an environment where lots of charged bodies are closely packed together. I don't think an electron in such an environment can be truly seen as free. I.e. perhaps electrons in the conduction band actually migrate from one atom to the next, rather than wandering around freely? (Though I must admit that Fermi statistics is what bothers me the most about my "outrageous" hypothesis. ;) Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
