DISCOVERY OF ELECTRON

BASIC CONCEPTS

 Discovery of the Electron and the

Nucleus
 Failure of the Classical description of
Atom
 Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
 Late nineteenth century (1890’s), there
was a perception that the theoratical
structure of the universe was “complete”
 Atomic Theory of Matter
 Newtonian Mechanics
 Thermodynamics
 Classical Electromagnetism
“Our future discoveries must be looked for in the 6th decimal place”
(1894)
Discovery of the Electron, J.J. Thomson
Experiment:
 Using theory of classical electromagnetism he
was able to calculate the Charge/Mass ratio for
an electron.
 He discovered that:
 |∆x(-)|>>>|∆x(+)|
 |e(-)| = |e(+)|
 m(-)<<< m(+)
 The negative particle from the cathode ray tubes was
named the “electron” (m = 9.11 x 10-31 kg), concluding
that atoms are NOT indivisible!
The Plum Pudding Model!
 Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)

Conducted experiments on α-particles to test the plum

Pudding model.

• First one to differentiate between different types of particles

emitted by radioactive substances.
Rutherford Experiment

Count Rate = 132,000 α particles per minute

Count Rate = 132,000 α particles per minute

Data appears to support

Plum pudding model!
Count Rate = 20 α particles per minute!

Without gold foil count rate was zero!

Tried with other foils e.g. Iron, silver etc,

Count rate was still 20 α particles per minute!
  P = Count rate of backscattered / count
rate of incident particles

 20/132,000
 P = 2 x 10-4

“Almost as incredible as hitting a 6 inch shell on a piece of tissue paper and it comes
back and hits you!”
 Interpretation:

= positive charge
 Conclusions:
Au atoms are mostly empty!
The majority of atom’s mass is concentrated in
a very small volume, compared to the volume of
the atom.
Later named “Nucleus” of an atom.
Diameter of the Nucleus = 10-14 m
Charge on Nucleus = +Ze
Classical Description of an atom

Coulomb’s Force Law

F(r) = (-e)(e)/4πε0r2 = -e2/4πε0r2

e = absolute value of electron charge

r = distance between two charges
ε0= permittivity constant of a vacuum 8.854 x 10-12 C2J-1m-1
Classical Description of an Atom

Coulomb’s Force Law:

Describes force as a function of r (distance)

Does NOT tell how r changes with time, t
When r → ∞ F(r) → 0

When r → 0 F(r) → ∞

There is however a CLASSICAL EQUATION OF MOTION that can describe how

the electron and the nucleus change position with time.
Newton’s Second Law

F = ma Force = mass x acceleration

F = m (dv/dt) = m(d2r/dt2)

Put in Coulomb’s Force law for F

For rinitial = 10 Å

r = 0 at t = 10-10 s!!!
Qualitatively the electron should plummet into the nucleus in 0.1 nano seconds!!!

Laws of classical mechanics no longer work at this size scale!

Quantum Mechanics explains the behavior of atom in a better way.