Landé derived a g-factor and g-formula in 1919 that provided satisfactory agreement between observed splittings of spectral lines in the Zeeman effect. The g-factor describes deviations of experimentally observed magnetic moments from classical expectations, with g=1. Landé's g-formula results from considering the total angular momentum J as the vector sum of the orbital momentum L and spin S, and that the spin contributes twice as much to the total magnetic moment as the orbital momentum. Landé arrived at this formula without knowledge of quantum mechanics, through his efforts to understand regularities in line splittings observed in a magnetic field.
Landé derived a g-factor and g-formula in 1919 that provided satisfactory agreement between observed splittings of spectral lines in the Zeeman effect. The g-factor describes deviations of experimentally observed magnetic moments from classical expectations, with g=1. Landé's g-formula results from considering the total angular momentum J as the vector sum of the orbital momentum L and spin S, and that the spin contributes twice as much to the total magnetic moment as the orbital momentum. Landé arrived at this formula without knowledge of quantum mechanics, through his efforts to understand regularities in line splittings observed in a magnetic field.
Landé derived a g-factor and g-formula in 1919 that provided satisfactory agreement between observed splittings of spectral lines in the Zeeman effect. The g-factor describes deviations of experimentally observed magnetic moments from classical expectations, with g=1. Landé's g-formula results from considering the total angular momentum J as the vector sum of the orbital momentum L and spin S, and that the spin contributes twice as much to the total magnetic moment as the orbital momentum. Landé arrived at this formula without knowledge of quantum mechanics, through his efforts to understand regularities in line splittings observed in a magnetic field.
Landé derived a g-factor and g-formula in 1919 that provided satisfactory agreement between observed splittings of spectral lines in the Zeeman effect. The g-factor describes deviations of experimentally observed magnetic moments from classical expectations, with g=1. Landé's g-formula results from considering the total angular momentum J as the vector sum of the orbital momentum L and spin S, and that the spin contributes twice as much to the total magnetic moment as the orbital momentum. Landé arrived at this formula without knowledge of quantum mechanics, through his efforts to understand regularities in line splittings observed in a magnetic field.
In 1919, the young theoretician Alfred Landé (1888–1976) in Frankfurt am Main
showed in his habilitation thesis that satisfactory agreement could be reached be- tween observed splittings of spectral lines in the Zeeman effect if one assumed that, in general, electrons contribute more to the total energy of the system than had been expected according to classical electron theory. Instead of μ·B = μ0 mJ , set μ·B = g μ0 mJ with μ the electron’s magnetic mo- ment, μ0 Bohr’s magneton: μ0 = −e/2m and mJ the magnetic quantum number. The so-called Landé g-factor thus describes deviations of experimentally observed magnetic moments from the classical case with g = 1. According to Landé, in general
Under the assumption of what later came to be called Russell-Saunders coupling,
Landé could also derive the ratio of the intervals in a Zeeman multiplet. A physical explanation of the foregoing has to make use of the then widely popular vec- tor model. In the vector model (more fully described in [1] or [2]), the total angular mo- mentum J is the vectorial sum J = L+S, with L angular momentum of the electrons, and S the spin. Spin; Stern–Gerlach experiment; Vector model. Then the total magnetic moment of the atomic system is given by μ = μ0 (L + 2S). Because the spin contributes twice as much to the total magnetic moment as does the orbit, μ is not parallel to J, but precesses around J. In an external magnetic field B, the component of magnetic moment μ in the direction of J yields a con- tribution of −μJ · B. Now, after a short calculation, Landé’s g-factor as defined by g = μ · B/μ0 mJ results:
Thus, retrospectively, Landés g-formula appears to be a straightforward conse-
quence of quantum mechanics. But Landé arrived at this formula without that later knowledge, in a single-handed effort to come to grips with observed regularities in the splitting of spectral lines, emitted in a magnetic field, the so-called Zeeman effect.
D. Greenberger et al. (eds.), Compendium of Quantum Physics: Concepts, Experiments, 336
History and Philosophy, c Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 Large-Angle Scattering 337
According to Landé’s own reminiscences: “Thus, working quite alone in Frank-
furt am Main without encouragement from colleagues, I found the key, the g-factor, which then opened the drawer with the g-formula in it, while whole groups of older physicists, even the great atomist Sommerfeld, remained in the dark” . . . “I cracked the magnetic code of atomic structure by the g-factor, followed its applications in the g-formula.”
Primary Literature
1. G. Herzberg: Atomic Spectra and Atomic Structure (New York: Prentice-Hall 1937, 2nd edn. New York: Dover Publications 1944) 2. C. Candler: Atomic Spectra and the Vector Model (Princeton: Van Nostrand 1937)
Secondary Literature
3. A. Barut: Alfred Landé, in: Physiker und Astronomen in Frankfurt (Neuwied: Metzner, 1989), 38–45, also available online as http://www.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/paf/paf38.html 4. P. Forman: Alfred Landé and the anomalous Zeeman Effect, 1919–1921. Historical Studies in L the Physical Sciences 2, 153–261 (1970)
Large-Angle Scattering Brigitte Falkenburg
In the scattering experiments of particle physics, large-angle scattering in-
dicates the recoil of the scattered “probe” particles at an impenetrable small or point-like scattering center. In the history of subatomic physics, it happened twice that unexpected large-angle scattering was observed in a crucial experiment. Both discoveries are based on a classical or semi-classical model of the atomic nucleus ( Rutherford atom).
Rutherford Scattering
In order to investigate subatomic structure, Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) scat-
tered α particles from radioactive radiation sources off thin gold foil. In 1909, Rutherford’s assistants Hans Geiger (1882–1945) and Ernest Marsden (1889–1970)
Zero Point Energy Per Stereo Radian and the Distribution of Gravitational Acceleration of Planets Throughout the Solar System.: The Origin and Cause of Gravitation
