- #36
Simon Bridge
Science Advisor
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The proton, like any hadron, is understood in terms of it's constituent quarks - each of which have an intrinsic spin. Protons are not well modeled as classically rotating objects.
Protons are also "Fermions", they have half-integer spin just like electrons.
At your level you will have only had a glimpse of the standard model of particle physics ... which is a huge subject all by itself.
We have to be very careful about what we call "real" in quantum mechanics ... the usual definition is that it is real if you can measure it. Intrinsic spin is real angular momentum in the sense that we can measure it and it gives rise to rotations that we can measure.
Protons are also "Fermions", they have half-integer spin just like electrons.
At your level you will have only had a glimpse of the standard model of particle physics ... which is a huge subject all by itself.
We have to be very careful about what we call "real" in quantum mechanics ... the usual definition is that it is real if you can measure it. Intrinsic spin is real angular momentum in the sense that we can measure it and it gives rise to rotations that we can measure.