Double Stern-Gerlach experiment

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the behavior of electrons in a double Stern-Gerlach experiment. When electrons are sent through the first Stern-Gerlach apparatus, they are split into two groups based on their spin: spin up and spin down. If the spin up particles are redirected to undergo a second Stern-Gerlach experiment without hitting a detector, they will still exhibit a 50/50 split into spin up and spin down groups. This phenomenon is confirmed by the principles outlined in "The Feynman Lectures on Physics."

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hideelo
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If I were to take some electrons and send them through a Stern-Gerlach experiment, then under normal conditions half of them would be deflected upward and half downward. If however, I were to make an hole in the machine where the spin up particles were detected after selection, and now instead of hitting a detector they go through another Stern-Gerlach experiment . Would those particles all still be spin up, even though they never hit a detector, or would they split into two groups again, spin up and spin down?
 
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hideelo said:
If however, I were to make an hole in the machine where the spin up particles were detected after selection, and now instead of hitting a detector they go through another Stern-Gerlach experiment . Would those particles all still be spin up

Yes.

The Feynman Lectures on Physics has a nice and detailed discussion of this scenario and many similar ones.
 

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