Plum pudding model: Difference between revisions

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==Significance==

Thomson's model was the first atomic model to describe an internal structure. Before this, atoms were simply the basic units of weight by which the chemical elements combined, and their only properties were valency and relative weight to hydrogen. ItThe model had no properties which concerned physicists, such as [[electric charge]], [[magnetic moment]], volume, or absolute mass, and because of this some physicists had doubted atoms even existed.

Thomson hypothesized that the quantity, arrangement, and motions of electrons in the atom could explain its physical and chemical properties, such as emission spectra, valencies, reactivity, and ionization. He was on the right track, though his approach was based on classical mechanics and he did not have the insight to incorporate quantized energy into it.