mfb said:A classical, charged, rotating ring has no dipole moment, but nonzero angular momentum.
Why do you expect that this is something special to get the same in quantum mechanics? There are orbitals with angular momentum, and if there are is a single electron in one of those orbitals you get a nonzero total angular momentum.
An atom cannot have zero total angular momentum in the ground state because of the laws of quantum mechanics. According to these laws, an atom's electrons must occupy different energy levels, and each energy level has a corresponding angular momentum. In the ground state, the electrons occupy the lowest energy levels, which have non-zero angular momentum values, resulting in a non-zero total angular momentum for the atom.
An atom's electronic configuration, which refers to the arrangement of its electrons in different energy levels, directly affects its total angular momentum. The electrons' distribution in different energy levels determines the atom's overall angular momentum, with the ground state having the lowest possible value.
No, an atom's total angular momentum cannot change in the ground state. The ground state is the lowest energy state an atom can have, and any change in the angular momentum would require the electrons to move to higher energy levels, resulting in an excited state.
Having a nonzero total angular momentum in the ground state is crucial for an atom's stability. According to the principles of quantum mechanics, electrons with the same angular momentum cannot occupy the same energy level. Therefore, if an atom's total angular momentum is zero, the electrons would have the same angular momentum, resulting in an unstable configuration.
The concept of spin, which refers to the intrinsic angular momentum of particles, plays a significant role in determining an atom's total angular momentum in the ground state. Electrons have a spin of ½, which adds to the atom's total angular momentum. This contributes to the overall stability of the atom and its ground state.