It will be seen later (section 82) that a similar value was deduced by Kaufmann for the electrons projected from radium.
These results, which have been based on the effect of a magnetic and electric field on a moving ion, were confirmed by Weichert, who determined by a direct method the time required for the particle to traverse a known distance.
The particles which make up the cathode stream were termed "corpuscles" by J. J. Thomson. The name "electron," first employed by Johnstone Stoney, has also been applied to them and has come into general use[1].
The methods above described do not give the mass of the electron, but only the ratio of the charge to the mass. A direct comparison can, however, be made between the ratio e/m for the electron and the corresponding value for the hydrogen atoms set free in the electrolysis of water. Each of the hydrogen atoms is supposed to carry a charge e, and it is known that 96,000 coulombs of electricity, or, in round numbers, 10^4 electromagnetic units of quantity are required to liberate one gram of hydrogen. If N is the number of atoms in one gram of hydrogen, then Ne = 10^4. But if m is the mass of a hydrogen atom, then Nm = 1. Dividing one by the other e/m = 10^4. We have seen already that a gaseous ion carries the same charge as a hydrogen atom, while indirect evidence shows that the electron carries the same charge as an ion, and consequently the same charge as the atom of hydrogen. Hence we may conclude that the apparent mass of the electron is only about 1/1000 of the mass of the hydrogen atom. The electron thus behaves as the smallest body known to science.
In later experiments J. J. Thomson showed that the negative ions set free at low pressures by an incandescent carbon filament, and also the negative ions liberated from a zinc plate exposed to the action of ultra-violet light, had the same value for e/m as the
- ↑ A complete discussion of the various methods employed to measure the velocity and mass of electrons and also of the theory on which they are based will be found in J. J. Thomson's Conduction of Electricity through Gases.
