Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site uw-june Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxl!ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision!uw-beaver!uw-june!palmer From: palmer@uw-june (David Palmer) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: Re: No pencil/no paper problem. Message-ID: <983@uw-june> Date: Sun, 12-Feb-84 18:47:15 EST Article-I.D.: uw-june.983 Posted: Sun Feb 12 18:47:15 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 15-Feb-84 05:04:32 EST References: <165@hou2g.UUCP> Organization: U. Washington, Computer Sci Lines: 25 bitals cascade into unpaired states of lower energy? JimThe Pauli principle states that no two Fermions can be in the same state at the same time (same state == same wave function, same type of particle, and same spin direction.) However, the quantum mechanics of the system says that a particle may only be in certain discrete states at any one time, and those states depend on the direction of the particle's spin. In a magnetic field, a particle with spin up cannot have the same wave function as a particle with spin down, because the magnetic field acts on the particles differently. David Palmer