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Structure of atom: Discovery of electrons, protons
and neutrons
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The following discussion has been contributed by Subhasish Sutradhar

Contents [hide]

1 Discovery of Electron
1.1 Who discovered the electron?
1.2 What is cathode ray?
1.3 Properties of cathode ray particle
1.4 Millikan Oil Drop Experiment
1.5 What we have learned
2 Discovery of Proton
2.1 Gold Foil Experiment
2.1.1 Results
2.1.2 Conclusion
3 Discovery of Neutron
3.1 What we have learned
4 Further studies
5 References 
Discovery of Electron
Who discovered the electron?
Electron was discovered by J. J. Thomson in 1897 when he was studying the properties of cathode ray.

What is cathode ray?

J. J. Thomson constructed a glass tube which was partially evacuated i.e.
much of the air was pumped out of the tube. Then he applied a high
electrical voltage between two electrodes at either end of the tube. He
detected that a stream of particle (ray) was coming out from the
negatively charged electrode (cathode) to positively charged electrode
(anode). This ray is called cathode ray and the whole construction is
called cathode ray tube. The schematic of a cathode ray tube is given in
figure 2.
Figure 1. J. J. Thomson won
Nobel Prize in 1906 for
 
discovering the elementary
particle electron. Interestingly,
his son G. P. Thomson also  
won the Nobel Prize in 1937
for proving the wavelike
properties of electron.1  

Figure 2. Cathode ray tube

 
Properties of cathode ray particle
1.  They travel in straight lines.

2. They are independent of the material composition of the cathode.

3. Applying electric field in the path of cathode ray deflects the ray towards positively charged plate.
Hence cathode ray consists of negatively charged particles.

J. J. Thomson measured the charge-by-

mass-ratio (e/m) of cathode ray particle
Figure 3. Deflection of cathode rays towards positively charged plates
using deflection in both electric and
magnetic field.

\(\frac{e}{m} = -1.76×10^8\) coulomb per gram

The cathode ray particle turned out to be 2000 times lighter than hydrogen.

Although we got e/m ratio for electron from J.J. Thomson’s Cathode Ray Tube experiment, we still don’t
know the exact charge (e) for electron. American physicist Robert Millikan designed an experiment to
measure the absolute value of the charge of electron which is discussed below.

Millikan Oil Drop Experiment

 

In 1909, American physicist R. Millikan measured the charge of an electron using negatively charged oil
droplets. The measured charge (e) of an electron is \(-1.60×10^{-19}\) Coulombs.

Using the measured charge of electron, we can calculate the mass of electron from e/m ratio given by J.
J. Thomson’s cathode ray experiment.
\(\frac{e}{m}= -1.76×10^8\) Coulomb-per-gram

\(m = \frac{e}{-1.76×10^8}\)

Putting \(e = -1.60×10^{-19}\) Coulomb,

\(m=9.1×10^{-28}\) gram.

What we have learned

1. Electron was discovered by J. J. Thomson in Cathode Ray Tube
(CRT) experiment.
Figure 4. Robert Millikan discovered
2. Electrons are negatively charged particles with charge-to-mass
charge of electron and won Noble
ratio \(-1.76×10^8\) C/gm prize in physics in 1923.2
3. The charge of an electron was measured by R. Millikan in Oil
drop experiment.
4. Charge of an electron is \(-1.60×10^{-19}\) C
5. Mass of an electron is \(9.1×10^{-28}\) gram.
6. Electron is approximately \(2000\) times lighter than hydrogen.

 
Discovery of Proton
In 1909,
Rutherfo
rd
discover
ed
proton in
his
famous
gold foil
experim
ent.

Gold
Foil
Exper
imen
t Figure 5. Schematic gold foil experiment

In his
gold foil experiment, Rutherford bombarded a beam of alpha particles on an ultrathin gold foil and then
detected the scattered alpha particles in zinc sulfide (ZnS) screen.

Results
1. Most of the particles pass through the foil without any deflection.
2. Some of the alpha particles deflect at small angle.
3. Very few even bounce back (1 in 20,000).

Conclusion
Based on his observations, Rutherford proposed the following structural features of an atom:

1. Most of the atom’s mass and its entire positive charge are
confined in a small core, called nucleus. The positively
charged particle is called proton.
2. Most of the volume of an atom is empty space.
3. The number of negatively charged electrons dispersed outside
the nucleus is same as number of positively charge in the
nucleus. It explains the overall electrical neutrality of an atom.

 
Discovery of Neutron
From the previous discussion, we can see that the gold foil experiment gave a clear picture of the
structure of an atom which consists of protons (nucleus) and same number of electrons outside of the
nucleus.

Figure 6. Schematic diagram for the experiment that led to the discovery of neutrons by Chadwick.
$$_4^9Be + _2^4α \longrightarrow [_6^{13}C] \longrightarrow [_6^{12}C] + _0^1n$$

But scientists soon realized that the atomic model offered by Rutherford is not complete. Various
experiments showed that mass of the nucleus is approximately twice than the number of proton. What
is the origin of this additional mass? Rutherford postulated the existence of some neutral particle having
mass similar to proton but there was no direct experimental evidence.

Several theories and experimental observations eventually led the discovery of neutron. We can
summarize some of the scientific observations behind the discovery of neutron.

In 1930, W. Bothe and H. Becker found an electrically neutral

radiation when they bombarded beryllium with alpha particle.
They thought it was photons with high energy (gamma rays).
In 1932, Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie showed that this ray can
eject protons when it hits paraffin or H-containing compounds.
 The question arose that how mass less photon could eject
protons which are 1836 times heavier than electrons. So the
ejected rays in bombardment of beryllium with alpha particles cannot be photon.
In 1932, James Chadwick performed the same experiment as Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie but he
used many different target of bombardment besides paraffin. By analyzing the energies of different
targets after bombardment he discovered the existence of a new particle which is charge less and
has similar mass to proton. This particle is called neutron. Beryllium undergoes the following
reaction when it is bombarded with alpha particle.

$$_4^9Be + _2^4α \longrightarrow [_6^{13}C] \longrightarrow [_6^{12}C] + _0^1n$$

Here the symbol  \(_Z^XA\) is used where Z = atomic number and X = atomic mass of the element A. 

Figure 7. Ernest Rutherford (left) was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry

in 1908 for his work in radioactivity. James Chadwick (on the right), a
student of Rutherford won Nobel Prize in Physics in 1935 for discovery
of neutron.3
 

Figure 8. The gold foil experiment was originally conducted by Hans

Geiger (left) and Ernest Marsden (right) under the supervision of Ernest
Rutherford at the University of Manchester.4

What we have learned

Atomic mass = mass of protons + mass of neutron.
For a neutral atom, number of proton=number of electron.
Measured masses and charges of the three elementary particles are given in the following table.

 
Particle Symbol Charge Mass

 
Electron e– -1.60×10-19 C 9.1×10-31  kg
 
Proton p+  (H+) 1.60×10-19 C 1.672×10-27 kg
 

Neutron n0 0.00 C 1.674×10-27 kg

 

 
Further studies
NCERT online text book

PBS atom builder

 References 
References for this article
1. This image is in the public domain [↩]
2. This photograph is in the public domain. [↩]
3. These images are in the public domain, see here and here [↩]
4. The photograph of Hans Geiger is in the public domain, see here and the photograph of Ernest Marsden is reproduced with
the permission of the National Library of New Zealand [↩]

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