Whether a neutral whole atom behaves as bosons or a fermion is independent of Z, instead depending entirely on the number of the neutrons in its nucleus. Why? What is it about this number that determines whether the atom is a boson or a fermion?

Short Answer

Expert verified

If the neutrons are in odd number then the atom will have a net half-integral spin and will behave as Fermion, whereas if it is even then it will behave as boson.

Step by step solution

01

For Fermion.

Particles come in two types: particles that make up matter, known as "fermions," and particles that carry forces, known as "bosons." The difference between the two is that fermions take up space, while bosons can pile on top of each other.

The sum of the number of electrons and number of protons will be an even number in a neutral atom. This will result in a net integral spin of the atom (excluding neutron). In this case, one can determine that the net spin of the system only if one knows the number of neutrons whether it is odd or even. That is why the behaviour of the neutral atom depends on the number of neutrons instead of Z.If the number of neutrons is odd, the atom will behave as Fermion. If the number of neutrons is even, the atom will behave as Boson. The number that determines this behaviour is called intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of the particle.

02

For Boson.

In a neutral atom, the number of electrons and number of protons are equal (and the sum of the number of electrons and protons is a even number). As these two particles have odd half-integral spin 12,32,52,.....the total even number of particles results in a net integral spin.

Hence, the behaviour of a neutral atom completely depends on the number of neutrons whether the neutrons are in odd number or even number. If the neutrons are in odd number, the atom will have a net half-integral spin and will behave as Fermion. If the neutrons are in even number, the atom will have a net integral spin and the atom behaves as Boson.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Slater Determinant: A convenient and compact way of expressing multi-particle states of anti-symmetric character for many fermions is the Slater determinant:

|ψn1x1m31ψn2x1m32ψn3x1m33···ψnNx1msNψn1x2m11ψn2x2m32ψn3x2m33···ψψn1x2msNψn3x3m31ψn2x3m12ψn3x3m33ψnNx3msN···············ψn1xNm11ψn2xNm32ψn3xNm33···ψnNxNmsN|

It is based on the fact that for N fermions there must be Ndifferent individual-particle states, or sets of quantum numbers. The ith state has spatial quantum numbers (which might be ni,i, and mfi) represented simply byni and spin quantum number msi. Were it occupied by the ith particle, the slate would beψni(xj)msi a column corresponds to a given state and a row to a given particle. For instance, the first column corresponds to individual particle state ψn(xj)ms1. Where jprogresses (through the rows) from particle 1 to particle N. The first row corresponds to particle I. which successively occupies all individual-particle states (progressing through the columns). (a) What property of determinants ensures that the multiparticle state is 0 if any two individual particle states are identical? (b) What property of determinants ensures that switching the labels on any two particles switches the sign of the multiparticle state?

A Simple Model: The multielectron atom is unsolvable, but simple models go a long way. Section7.8gives energies and orbit radii forone-electron/hydrogenlike atoms. Let us see how useful these are by considering lithium.

(a) Treat one of lithium'sn=1electrons as a single electron in a one-electron atom ofrole="math" localid="1659948261120" Z=3. Find the energy and orbit radius.

(b) The othern=1electron being in the same spatial state. must have the same energy and radius, but we must account for the repulsion between these electrons. Assuming they are roughly one orbit diameter apart, what repulsive energy would they share, and if each claims half this energy. what would be the energies of these two electrons?

(c) Approximately what charge does lithium's lone valence electron orbit, and what radius and energy would it have?

(d) Is in reasonable to dismiss the role of then=1electrons in chemical reactions?

(e) The actual energies of lithium's electrons are about-98eV(twice, of course) and-5.4eV. How good is the model?

(f) Why should the model's prediction for the valence electron's energy differ in the direction it does from the actual value?

A hydrogen atom is subjected to a magnetic field Bstrong enough to completely overwhelm the spin-orbit coupling. Into how many levels would the 2p level split, and what would be the spacing between them?

The subatomic omega particle has spin s=32. What angles might its intrinsic angular in momentum vector make with the z-axis?

Question: Early on, the lanthanides were found to be quite uncooperative when attempts were made to chemically separate them from one another. One reason can be seen in Figure 8.16. Explain.

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