have unpaired spins that are detected in electron spin resonance. Detection of spin When lines of the hydrogen spectrum are examined at very high resolution, they are found to be closely spaced doublets. This splitting is called fine structure, and was one of the first experimental evidences for electron spin. The direct observation of the electron's intrinsic angular momentum was achieved in the Stern–Gerlach experiment. Stern–Gerlach experiment The theory of spatial quantization of the spin moment of the momentum of electrons of atoms situated in the magnetic field needed to be proved experimentally. In 1920 (two years before the theoretical description of the spin was created) Otto Stern and Walter Gerlach observed it in the experiment they conducted. Silver atoms were evaporated using an electric furnace in a vacuum. Using thin slits, the atoms were guided into a flat beam and the beam sent through an in-homogeneous magnetic field before colliding with a metallic plate. The laws of classical physics predict that the collection of condensed silver atoms on the plate should form a thin solid line in the same shape as the original beam. However, the in-homogeneous magnetic field caused the beam to split in two separate directions, creating two lines on the metallic plate. The phenomenon can be explained with the spatial quantization of the spin moment of momentum. In atoms the electrons are paired such that one spins upward and one downward, neutralizing the effect of their spin on the action of the atom as a whole. But in the valence shell of silver atoms, there is a single electron whose spin remains unbalanced. The unbalanced spin creates spin magnetic moment, making the electron act like a very small magnet. As the atoms pass through the in-homogeneous magnetic field, the force moment in the magnetic field influences the electron's dipole until its position matches the direction of the stronger field. The atom would then be pulled toward or away from the stronger magnetic field a specific amount, depending on the value of the valence electron's spin. When the spin of the electron is +1/2 the atom moves away from the stronger field, and when the spin is −1/2 the atom moves toward it. Thus the beam of silver atoms is split while traveling through the in-homogeneous magnetic field, according to the spin of each atom's valence electron. In 1927 Phipps and Taylor conducted a similar experiment, using