How does the Zeeman effect change the nature of an atom?

number_1dad

Inverse Zeeman effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeeman_effect Jan 07 08, 2:46 AM

zbeckabee

The Zeeman effect is the split of an spectral line into several components in the presence of a magnetic field In most atoms, there exist several electronic configurations that have the same energy, so that transitions between different pairs of configurations correspond to a single spectral line. The presence of a magnetic field breaks the degeneracy, since it interacts in a different way with electrons with different quantum numbers, slightly modifying their energies. The result is that, where there were several configurations with the same energy, now there are different energies, which give rise to several very close spectral lines. http://www.thebestlinks.com/Zeeman_effect.html Jan 07 08, 9:47 AM