Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site hou2g.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!hou2g!stekas From: stekas@hou2g.UUCP (J.STEKAS) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: No pencil/no paper problem. Message-ID: <165@hou2g.UUCP> Date: Fri, 10-Feb-84 17:38:06 EST Article-I.D.: hou2g.165 Posted: Fri Feb 10 17:38:06 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Feb-84 09:11:58 EST Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 13 Everyone knows that Fermions obey Pauli statistics - i.e. no two Fermions can be in the same state at the same time. That is why atomic orbitals become filled when 2 electrons (of opposite spin) occupy them. Now, when an atom is in a magnetic field the spectral lines get split due to the Zeeman effect. So what used to be identical electron states (except for spin) are now correspond to entirely different energy levels. Question - since the electrons in these new states now have no Pauli partners, why don't electrons from higher energy orbitals cascade into unpaired states of lower energy? Jim