Atoms Quote by Joseph John Thomson
“If, in the very intense electric field in the neighbourhood of the cathode, the molecules of the gas are dissociated and are split up, not into the ordinary chemical atoms, but into these primordial atoms, which we shall for brevity call corpuscles; and if these corpuscles are charged with electricity and projected from the cathode by the electric field, they would behave exactly like the cathode rays.”
About This Quote
Thomson describes how intense electric fields near a cathode split gas molecules into charged particles—corpuscles—that behave like cathode rays, foreshadowing electron theory.
In simple terms: Charged particles from a cathode act like rays.
Key Takeaway
Cathode rays are charged particles.
Themes
physics
electricity
atomic theory
Mood
scientific
curious
Type
scientific explanation
When to use this quote
- early 20th‑century experiments
- vacuum tube development
Key Concepts
particle physics
Practical Applications
- investigate electron properties
Questions to Reflect On
- How did this insight lead to the electron discovery?
- What limitations existed in the experiment?
A Different Perspective
Terminology (“corpuscles”) is outdated.
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