Amount of angular momentum associated with a subatomic particle or nucleus. It is measured in multiples of ℏ (h-bar), equal to Planck's constant divided by 2π.
Electrons, neutrons, and protons have a spin of 12, for example, while pions and helium nuclei have zero spin. The spin of a complex nucleus is the vector sum of the orbital angular momentum and intrinsic spins of the constituent nucleons. For nuclei of even mass number, the multiple is an integral; for those of odd mass number, it is a half-integer. &Seealso; Bose-Einstein statistics, Fermi-Dirac statistics.
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