So the word atom means uncuttable
so the Greeks were thinking of it as a tiny hard sphere Phil: that's right Derek: and even up until the eighteen
hundred's that was the idea of an atom, the smallest piece of matter, a tiny hard sphere
but then we find out that that's not quite right
not quite
there were experiments in the eighteen hundreds that discovered the electron, JJ Thomson's
experiments
really worked out the electron was
smaller than an atom, about 1000 times smaller than a hydrogen atom
and it was in all atoms
that's right, not just hydrogen
whatever material he did his experiments on he found there was electrons in them
there are electrons in an all atoms
so I guess when you find something smaller than an atom you need to propose a new model for the atom
that actually has something smaller in it some substructure Phil: that's right so something
like this
this is our model of the atom Phil: This is our model of the atom -
in his day, it was known as the plum pudding model but uh... here we have
cherry tart Phil: cherry tart, ok so
but the idea being that we have an overall atom
usually pictured as spherical rather than 2D but
uh... but imbedded within it
and this is the important part
there are negative electrons represented by cherries and they can come out
the overall atom is neutral, so
that means that pudding part must be positive Derek: now how would you get one of these
electrons
out of our pudding here
so electrons are negatively charged so we'll need to put something very positive which attracts
electrons, a high voltage Derek: and that would have the effect of say like
plucking a cherry out of the pudding
that's pretty much it
yeah you could do it kind of like that
so we're simulating
what it would be like
to put a positive charge up here. Phil: that's right, that's right Derek: pulling the electrons out of the atom
that's quite a
delicious Phil: Yeah!
well that is the most delicious model of the atom, I've gotta say
so shall we uh split the atom?
why don't you go ahead Phil: you want me to do it? Derek: yes
Who knows what could happen, a whole bunch of energy could be released. Phil: Yeah
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