- #1
NanaToru
- 24
- 0
I've been tutoring for chemistry and someone asked me to clarify the difference of spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum without math.
I was trying to think of a metaphor, but I wanted to make sure it's a fair one--the spin angular momentum is like Earth rotating on its own axis and orbital angular momentum of an electron in an orbital is analogous to the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. Of course this ignores a lot of other implications like resultant magnetic momentum, but it was the simplest one I could come up with.
Is this fair? I"m worried that they might get into their head that electrons then spin on a specific path like the Bohr model, but I'm not sure what else to compare it to. And of course this only applies to hydrogen like species but again, I was a bit on the spot... I'd love to give them a better metaphor.
I was trying to think of a metaphor, but I wanted to make sure it's a fair one--the spin angular momentum is like Earth rotating on its own axis and orbital angular momentum of an electron in an orbital is analogous to the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. Of course this ignores a lot of other implications like resultant magnetic momentum, but it was the simplest one I could come up with.
Is this fair? I"m worried that they might get into their head that electrons then spin on a specific path like the Bohr model, but I'm not sure what else to compare it to. And of course this only applies to hydrogen like species but again, I was a bit on the spot... I'd love to give them a better metaphor.