Question

Describe Thomson’s cathode ray experiment and how the experimental results led to specific changes in the accepted model of the atom. Be sure to include a description of the atomic model that was accepted by the scientific community before this experiment as well as the atomic model that was accepted after this experiment.

Answer 1

In 1904 Thomson suggested a model of the atom as a sphere of positive matter in which electrons are positioned by electrostatic forces. His efforts to estimate the number of electrons in an atom from measurements of the scattering of light, X, beta, and gamma rays initiated the research trajectory along which his student Ernest Rutherford moved.