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In 1897 Sir Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940) performed his famous
experiment with cathode rays, where he proved that cathode radiation can
be deflected by electric and magnetic fields and thus consisted of charged
Atoms: Thomson
´
s discovery of Electrons
particles, the electrons.
In the following years several experiments where the scattering of electron
beams was studied showed that the largest portion of the space occupied
by the atoms is empty.
Based on these results Thomson proposed in 1904 that atoms consist of a
spherical positive electrical charge distribution, like a liquid, in which the
negative charged electrons are moving: the Thomson’s compact atom
model.
Thomson
´
s atom model