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Cathode rays (also called an electron beam or e-beam) are streams of electrons observed in vacuum tubes.

If an
evacuated glass tube is equipped with two electrodes and a voltage is applied, the glass opposite of the negative
electrode is observed to glow, due to electrons emitted from and travelling perpendicular to the cathode (the
electrode connected to the negative terminal of the voltage supply). They were first observed in 1869 by German
physicist Johann Hittorf, and were named in 1876 by Eugen Goldsteinkathodenstrahlen, or cathode rays.
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Electrons were first discovered as the constituents of cathode rays. In 1897 British physicist J. J. Thomson showed
the rays were composed of a previously unknown negatively charged particle, which was later named
the electron. Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) use a focused beam of electrons deflected by electric or magnetic fields to
create the image in a classic television set.
PROPERTIES OF CATHODE RAYS

- They are produced by the negative electrode, or cathode, in an evacuated tube, andtravel towards the anode.
- They travel in straight lines and cast sharp shadows.
- They have energy and can do work.
- They are deflected by electric and magnetic fields and have a negative charge.
- They are beams of tiny, negatively charged particles called electrons.
Cathode rays show the following properties:
1. Cathode rays travel in straight lines. That is why, cathode rays cast shadow of any solid object placed in their
path. The path cathode rays travel is not affected by the position of the anode.
2. Cathode rays consist of matter particles, and posses energy by the virtue of its mass and velocity. Cathode
rays set a paddle wheel into motion when it is placed in the path of these rays one the bladder of the paddle
wheel.
3. Cathode rays consist of negatively charged particles. When cathode rays are subjected to an electrical field,
these get deflected towards the positively charge plate(Anode).
We know that a positively charged body would attract only a negatively charged body, therefore the particles of
cathode rays carry negative charge.
Cathode rays also get deflected when these are subjected to a strong magnetic field.
4. Cathode rays heat the object only which they fall. The cathode ray particles possess kinetic energy. When
these particles strike an object, a part of the kinetic energy is transferred to the object. The causes a rise in the
temperature of the object.
5. Cathode rays cause green fluorescence on glass surface, i.e., the glass surface only which the cathode rays
strike show a colored shine.
6. Cathode rays can penetrate through thin metallic sheets.
7. Cathode rays ionize the gases through which they travel.
8. Cathode rays when fall only certain metals such as copper, but rays produced. The X-rays are not deflected by
electrical or magnetic fields. X-rays pass through opaque materials such as black paper, but stopped by solid
objects such as bones.
9. Cathode rays travel with speed nearly equal to that of light.

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