An experiment called the Stern-Gerlach experiment helped establish the existence

Question

An experiment called the Stern-Gerlach experiment helped establish the existence of electron spin. In this experiment a beam of silver atoms is passed through a magnetic field which deflects half of the silver atoms in one direction and half in the opposite direction. The separation between the two beams increases as the strength of the magnetic field increases. A) What is the electron configuration for a silver atom? B) Would this experiment work with a beam of cadmium atoms? C) Would this experiment work for a beam of fluorine atoms?

Explanation / Answer

A. The electronic configuration of the Ag is [Kr] 4d10 5s1.

b. The electronic configuration of Cadmium is [Kr] 4d105s2

c. The electronic configuration of fluorine is [He] 2p52s2

To see the spin splitting cleanly, neutral atom with an unpaired electron is required. Silver has an unpaired 5s electron, and all others are paired. The 5s electron is in a zero orbital angular momentum state, so as far as the magnetic response is concerned, only the spin changes in different fields. the outer electron spin-1/2 makes two degenerate states(2S+1 = 2) , so the Silver atom ends up being just a massive neutral object with a magnetic moment equal to the magnetic moment due to the spin of a free electron.

Cadmium and fluorine wont work for Stern-Gerlach experiment. They doesnt have the unpaired electron though the orbital angular momentum is zero.

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