Note: The positive sphere in Thomson’s model is not a proton; the proton was only discovered later. Although Thomson suggested that the atom is a positively charge sphere, he did not have any experimental evidence to support this hypothesis.
6.3 Cathode Ray Tube and Thomson’s Experiments
Cathode Ray Tube
In the 19th century, physicist found that if they passed an electric current though a vacuum tube, they cloud see a fluorescent beam of charges passing from one end of the tube to the other end. As these beams were emitted from the negative electrode, known as cathode, they were called cathode ray
Thomson used cathode ray tubes to carry out experiments to determine the nature of cathode rays. He eventually discovered that these rays were made up of electrons. Before we take a look at his experiments, we must first understand what a cathode ray tube is