30.2 Discovery of the parts of the atom: electrons and nuclei

Learning objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Describe how electrons were discovered.
• Explain the Millikan oil drop experiment.
• Describe Rutherford’s gold foil experiment.
• Describe Rutherford’s planetary model of the atom.

The information presented in this section supports the following AP® learning objectives and science practices:

• 1.B.3.1 The student is able to challenge the claim that an electric charge smaller than the elementary charge has been isolated. (S.P. 1.5, 6.1, 7.2)

Just as atoms are a substructure of matter, electrons and nuclei are substructures of the atom. The experiments that were used to discover electrons and nuclei reveal some of the basic properties of atoms and can be readily understood using ideas such as electrostatic and magnetic force, already covered in previous chapters.

The electron

Gas discharge tubes, such as that shown in [link] , consist of an evacuated glass tube containing two metal electrodes and a rarefied gas. When a high voltage is applied to the electrodes, the gas glows. These tubes were the precursors to today’s neon lights. They were first studied seriously by Heinrich Geissler, a German inventor and glassblower, starting in the 1860s. The English scientist William Crookes, among others, continued to study what for some time were called Crookes tubes, wherein electrons are freed from atoms and molecules in the rarefied gas inside the tube and are accelerated from the cathode (negative) to the anode (positive) by the high potential. These “ cathode rays ” collide with the gas atoms and molecules and excite them, resulting in the emission of electromagnetic (EM) radiation that makes the electrons’ path visible as a ray that spreads and fades as it moves away from the cathode.

Gas discharge tubes today are most commonly called cathode-ray tubes , because the rays originate at the cathode. Crookes showed that the electrons carry momentum (they can make a small paddle wheel rotate). He also found that their normally straight path is bent by a magnet in the direction expected for a negative charge moving away from the cathode. These were the first direct indications of electrons and their charge.