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Detection of Electron
CHOOKI ARINZE
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ABSTRACT

The story of the detection of the electron by JJ Thomson is widely known and recited. However, this paper is dedicated to

reviewing the significant scientific experiments and industry that led to the indisputable evidence of the existence of sub-

atomic particles, in this case the electron. This paper will explore the experiments by Pieter Zeeman and John Thomson that

led to estimations of the charge to mass ratio of the electron. It would also explore the prevailing physical theoretical

explanation of their experiments at the time, which led to these estimations. This paper will conclude with reviewing

physics and technique of mass spectroscopy, an offshoot of Thomson’s electron discovery, and its utility for new particle

detection.
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Outline

 Abstract

 Brief History of Electricity – From the Greek Philosophers to Maxwell’s Equations

 The Hunt for the Electron

 Debate over electric discharge in gases – flowing charged particles or aethereal waves?
 Jean Perrin’s Experiment
 Zeeman’s Experiments
 Classical Electromagnetism Description of Zeeman Effect – Lorentz Electron Theory
 JJ Thompson’s Experiment on Cathode Rays

 Mass Spectroscopy

 Summary
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From Ancient Greeks to Maxwell

Dalton 1819 Maxwell 1865

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What Are Cathode Rays?

 Light or Matter? The debate of the late 19th century

 German physicist like Goldstein, Hertz, and Lenard argued

for the aethereal (light nature of these rays)

 British physicists like Crooke and Thomson counter argued

that these rays were negatively charged particles

 A nationalist physics debate it seems between the Germans

and the English

Source: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_tube

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Jean Perrin
 Born 30 September 1870

 Key figure at the heart of establishing atomic

theory

 Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University

of Paris (1910 – 1940)

 Won the Nobel Prize in 1926 for experimental

evidence of Einstein’s theory of Brownian motion

Source: NobelPrize.Org
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Jean Perrin Experiment

Source: New Experiments on the Kathode Rays1. Nature 53, 298–299 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/053298a0
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Pieter Zeeman
 Born May 25, 1865

 In 1890, he was an assistant to H.A Lorentz at

University of Leiden

 Professor of Physics at the University of Amsterdam

(1897 – 1935)

 For his discovery of the influence of magnetism on

light he won the 2nd Nobel Prize (1902), with his
former boss, H.A. Lorentz

Source: American Institute of Physics - https://history.aip.org/phn/11812004.html

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Inspiration for Zeeman’s Experiment

 Faraday’s last experiment as logged in his diary was an attempt to show the influence of magnetism on
light.
 However, Faraday was not able to observe any effect of magnetism on light
 Surprisingly, Maxwell would succumb to this believe that magnetism had no direct effect on light
 Maxell on the subject of light-emitting particles, said that “No force in nature can alter even very slightly
either their mass or their period of oscillation”. 
 This puzzled Zeeman as he reflects in his Nobel Prize Lecture in 1902 stating:
 “A statement which, coming from the mouth of the founder of the electromagnetic light theory and
spoken with such intensity, must really surprise present-day physicists.”
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Zeeman Effect
Experimental
a.
b.
Neon Lamp
Electromagnet
Setup
c. Fabry-Pérot interferometer with collimation lenses
d. Spectrometer Entrance Slit
e. Prism Spectrometer Lenses
f. Prism
g. Prism Spectrometer Lenses
h. Camera
Source: Caltech Advanced Physics Experiment Manual: http://www.sophphx.caltech.edu/Physics_7/Experiment_27.pdf
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Source: Zeeman, P. (1897). "On the influence of magnetism on the nature of the light emitted by a substance". Philosophical
Magazine. 5th series. 43 (262): 226–239. doi:10.1080/14786449708620985.
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Zeeman
Effect
Results

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfwjI77AQCI
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Table of
Zeeman’s
Original
Results

Source: Zeeman, P. (1897). "Doublets and triplets in the spectrum produced by external magnetic forces". Philosophical Magazine.
5th series. 44 (266): 55–60. doi:10.1080/14786449708621028
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Classical Zeeman Effect By Lorentz

 Lorentz theorized that the source of natural light from matter was dipole radiation

 Thus, he conceived a model based of Maxwell’s equation in which a charge’s vibration

caused electromagnetic radiation with the same frequency as the vibrating charged entity

 A vibrating charge in the presence of a magnetic field will thus result in three modes of
oscillation:
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Classical Zeeman Effect By Lorentz

  𝝎 𝟎

 
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John Thomson
 December 18, 1856

 A mathematician by training and his venture into

experimental physics was unexpected

 Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of

Cambridge from 1884 - 1918

 For his discovery of the electron, he won the Nobel Prize in

1906

Source: NobelPrize.Org
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JJ Thompson’s Cathode Ray Tube

Source: Science Museum London (via Encyclopedia Britannica)

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Source: Khan Academy

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Thomson’s Result & Analysis

  


Where is the mass of the electron, is the velocity of the electron,

is the radius of curvature, is the electrical charge, and is the
magnetic field
(Equating centripetal force to Lorentz electromagnetic force)

 is the number of particles in the beam

Source: J. J. Thomson, "Cathode Rays," Philosophical Magazine 44, 293-316 (1897b)

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Mass Spectroscopy
for Particle
Characterization

Source: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_spectrometry

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Key Component of Mass Spectroscopy

 Ionization
 Hard & Soft Ionization
 Photoionization
 Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)

 Deflection/Mass Selection

 Sector Instruments
 Time of Flight Analyzer
 Ion Traps
 Detectors
 Electron multiplier
 Ion to Photon detector (photomultipliers) Dynode Particle Multiplier Detector
Source: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_spectrometry
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Source: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_spectrometry

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Summary

 Zeeman and Lorentz work are not credited to the discovery of the electron because they were more focused on
understanding the origin of light from matter
 Their analysis at best was indirect evidence of the existence of electron
 It relied heavily on Lorentz’s version of electron in atoms being true. One could have come up with an alternate theory to
explain light from matter. And indeed, quantum mechanics did have a different origin for light.
 Thomson’s experiment on the other hand tackled a hot debate topic in Europe at the time, the nature of cathode
rays.
 His experiment directly evidenced the negative charges of cathode rays and computed their charge to mass ratio without any
inference on any unestablished theory
 Since the results were the same irrespective of the material used in the cathode or gas, it evidenced the universality of these
sub-atomic particles in matter
 It gave birth to the technique of mass spectroscopy which is widely used particle detection technique
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Bibliography

 New Experiments on the Kathode Rays1. Nature 53, 298–299 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/053298a0

 J. J. Thomson, "On the Velocity of the Cathode-Rays," Philosophical Magazine 38, 358-365 (1894)

 J. J. Thomson, "Cathode Rays," Royal Institution Proceedings 15, 419-432 (1897a); reproduced in Royal

Institution Library of Science, William Lawrence Bragg and George Porter, eds., vol. 5, pp. 36-49
(Barking, Essex, England: Elsevier, 1970).

 J. J. Thomson, "Cathode Rays," Philosophical Magazine 44, 293-316 (1897b)

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Bibliography

 J. J. Thomson, "On the Masses of the Ions in Gases at Low Pressures," Philosophical Magazine 48,
547-567 (1899)
 J. J. Thomson, "
On the Structure of the Atom: an Investigation of the Stability and Periods of Oscillation of a numbe
r of Corpuscles arranged at
equalintervals
around the Circumference of a Circle; with Application of the results to the Theory of Atomic Struc
ture
," Philosophical Magazine 7, 237-265 (1904)
 J. J. Thomson, "On the Number of Corpuscles in an Atom," Philosophical Magazine 11, 769-781
(1906a)
 J. J. Thomson, "Carriers of negative electricity," Nobel Lecture in Physics, December 11, 1906b;
in Nobel Lectures: Physics, 1901-1921 (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1967), pp. 145-53; annotated text
above
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Bibliography

 Zeeman, P. (1897). 
"On the influence of magnetism on the nature of the light emitted by a substance"
. Philosophical Magazine. 5th series. 43 (262): 226–239. doi:10.1080/14786449708620985
.
 Zeeman, P. (11 February 1897). "The effect of magnetisation
on the nature of light emitted by a substance". Nature. 55 (1424): 347. Bibcode:
1897Natur..55..347Z. doi:10.1038/055347a0.
 Zeeman, P. (1897). 
"Doublets and triplets in the spectrum produced by external magnetic forces". Philosophical
Magazine. 5th series. 44 (266): 55–60. doi:10.1080/14786449708621028
 Lorentz H.A, “On the theory of the Zeeman-effect in a direction to the inclined to the lines of
force,” in: KNAW, Proceedings, 12, Amsterdam, pp. 321-340 (1910)