The Proton

Figure 1, Credit: Askey Physics

The idea of a positively charged

particle in the vicinity of the newly
discovered electron was conceived by Figure 2, Credit: BBC
J. J. Thomson in 1904 in the form of
the plum pudding model. His
reasoning was that due to the fact that
the atom itself is neutral, despite
containing electrons, there must also
be a source of positive charge to
cancel it out. He described it as a sea
of positive charge surrounding
electrons as seen in Figure 1.
Later in 1905, Ernest Rutherford’s students Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden carried out an
experiment to test the plum pudding model. He fired alpha particles at a thin gold foil
around 1000 atoms thick suspended in a vacuum chamber. Based on the plum pudding
model the positively charged alpha particle should pass right through as despite the
presence of positive charge in the atoms due to its cloud arrangement in the plum pudding
model. The particles may be deflected slightly because of this but still go right through. 1He
was able to measure the angle of deflection as the alpha particles would cause flashes of
light on the scintillation screen. His results were that most of the alpha particles passed
through and a small number were deflected by angles greater than 4 degrees however an
1
BBC Bitesize. 2020. Rutherford and the nucleus - Nuclear atom and isotopes - Eduqas - GCSE Physics (Single
Science) Revision - Eduqas - BBC Bitesize. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zgc2y4j/revision/2. [Accessed 06 September 2020].
even smaller number of particles bounced back at angled greater than 90 degrees. This
meant that most the atom was empty space and that at the positive charge and mass was
concentrated at the centre of the atom, the nucleus. This disproved the plum pudding
model.
In further experiments he observed his scintillation detectors detected hydrogen nuclei
when he fired alpha particles into the air. He deduced that it must come from particles in
the atmosphere such as nitrogen. After firing more alpha particles at pure nitrogen and
detecting even greater amounts of hydrogen nuclei he concluded that this ‘hydrogen nuclei’
was present in every atom. Later the term hydrogen nuclei was changed to proton. 2

2
BYJUS. 2020. Proton and Neutron Discovery - Who Discovered Them & How?. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://byjus.com/chemistry/proton-neutron-discovery/. [Accessed 06 September 2020].