PHYSICS OF THE ATOM

The earliest known concept of atomic theory come from ancient Greece, where
philosophers such as Democritus postulated in 5th century BCE that all matter
was composed of tiny, indivisible and indestructible units. The term “atom”
was coined in ancient Greece and gave rise to the school of thought known as
“atomism”. However, this theory was more of a philosophical concept than a
scientific one.
The idea that matter is made up of very small inert, indivisible particles
that interacts mechanically with other atoms is very old. It has taken a long
time, intelligent reasoning and classical experiments to cover the journey
from this idea to the present day atomic models [which involves a dense
nucleus surrounded by a probabilistic "cloud" of electrons]. Ongoing research
and improved methods have led scientists to conclude that atoms are actually
composed of even smaller particles that interact with each other
electromagnetically.

Thompson’s Model of Atom

Cavendish professor of Experimental physics at the University of Cambridge,
Sir Joseph John Thompson proposed a model of atom, which proved to be a
crucial step in development of the standard model of particle physics.
From experiments conducted by him in late 1890’s, he published his view in
March 1904 edition of UK’s Philosophical magazine
that
...The atom of elements consists of a number of
negatively charged corpuscles enclosed in a sphere
of uniform positive electrification...

These corpuscles would later be named

“electrons”, based on the theoretical particle
predicted by Anglo-Irish physicist George
Johnstone Stoney in 1874.

The colloquial nickname “plum pudding” was soon attributed to Thompson’s

model as the distribution of electrons within its positively charged region
of space reminded many scientists of plums in common English dessert, plum
pudding.
It explained several observations available at that time such as why only
negatively charged particles are emitted when a metal is heated and never the
positively charged particles. It could also explain the formation of ions and
ionic compounds of chemistry.

With time, a number of scientific problems were encountered with this model,
and hence, five years later, the model was disproved by Hans Geiger and
Ernest Marsden. Though defunct, this model represents an important step in
the development of atomic theory. Not only did it incorporate new
discoveries, such as the existence of the electron, it also introduced the
notation of the atom as a non-inert, divisible mass. It determined the
existence of electromagnetic forces within the atom, which proved to be a
major influence on field of quantum physics.