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The Discovery Of The Electron


The electron was discovered in 1895 by J.J. Thomson in the form of
cathode rays, and was the first elementary particle to be identified. The
electron is the lightest known particle which possesses an electric charge. Its
rest mass is Me 9.1 x 10 -28 g, about 1/1836 of the mass
of the proton or neutron.

The charge of the electron is -e = -4.8 x 10^-10 esu unit). The sign of the electron's charge is negative by convention, and that of
the equally charged proton is positive. This is somewhat a unfortunate
convention, because the flow of electrons in a conductor is opposite to the
conventional direc tion of the current.

The most accurate direct measurement of e is the oil drop experiment
conducted by R.A. Milikan in 1909. In this experiment, the charges of droplets
of oil in air are measured by finding the electric field which balances each
drop against its weight. The weight of each drop is determined by......

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Approximate Word Count: 469
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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