The Zeeman effect is when a magnetic field causes a spectral line to split into two or more frequencies. It was discovered by Dutch physicist Pieter Zeeman and has led to advances in electron paramagnetic resonance studies and measuring magnetic fields in space. The effect can be divided into normal and anomalous, with the latter producing more divisions than expected. The state of spin, or orientation of the electron, is key to the type of spectral emission produced. The normal Zeeman effect observed with hydrogen is an exception to the rule, as electron spin is a larger factor in producing the effect.
The Zeeman effect is a property in physics in which light of a spectral line is split into two or more frequencies when in the presence of a magnetic field. The property is named after Pieter Zeeman, a 20th century Dutch physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics together with Hendrik Lorentz in 20, for discovering the effect. The development of quantum mechanics further changed the understanding of the Zeeman effect by determining which spectral lines were emitted as electrons were moved from one energy shell to another in their orbit of atomic nuclei. Understanding the Zeeman effect has led to advances in electron paramagnetic resonance studies, as well as the measurement of magnetic fields in space such as those of the Sun and other stars.
Contemplating how the Zeeman effect occurs in hydrogen is one of the easiest ways to understand the process. A magnetic field applied to a hydrogen transition spectral line will cause an interaction with the magnetic dipole moment of the orbital angular momentum for the electron and divide the spectral line into three lines. Without the magnetic field, the spectral emission is in a single wavelength, which is governed by the main quantum numbers.
The Zeeman effect can also be divided into the anomalous Zeeman effect and the normal Zeeman effect. The normal Zeman effect is characterized by atoms such as hydrogen, where an expected transition occurs in an equidistant display of a triplet of spectral lines. In an anomalous effect, the magnetic field can instead divide the spectral lines into four, six or more divisions, with gaps between the wavelengths wider than expected. The anomalous effect has advanced the understanding of electron spin and is something of a mislabel, as it is now an expected effect.
The experimental results of the study of this phenomenon concluded that the state of spin, or orientation of the electron, was the key to the change in energy it underwent and, therefore, the type of spectral emission it produced. If the plane of an electron’s orbit were perpendicular to an applied magnetic field, it would produce a state of positive or negative energy change depending on its rotation. If the electron were within the plane of its orbit around the nucleus, the net force or state of energy change would be zero. This concluded that Zeeman’s splitting effects could be calculated based on the orbit, or angular momentum of an electron, relative to any applied magnetic field.
Original observations suggested that the normal Zeeman effect observed with hydrogen, in which a split into three spectral lines occurred, would have been common. In reality, however, this turned out to be an exception to the rule. This is because the division of the three spectral lines is based on angular momentum, or the orbit of an electron around the nucleus, yet a state of electron spin has twice the magnetic moment as angular momentum. The spin state is seen as a larger factor, therefore, in producing the Zeeman effect and the spin states, or spins of electrons, must be predicted theoretically using quantum electrodynamics.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
