Billy Barrow
From Thompson 's Model to Rutherford 's Model
By the time that Joseph John Thompson confirmed that Cathode Rays were made up of negatively charged particles in 1897. The groundwork for the idea of the atom had been in the works for many years. From ideas from Leucippus and Democritus from ancient Greece who first proposed the idea of 'atomos ' meaning “inadvisable”. This idea of the smallest thing went on largely ignored in favour of the ideas of Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates who believed that everything was made up of five different elements; air, water, earth, fire, and ether.
In the 1700 's, Sir Isaac Newton brought back the idea of 'atomos ' or, the atom, making up everything that exists. Newton suggested …show more content…
Thompson went with the idea that the electron had a very tiny mass and discovered that it was around 2000 times lighter than the lightest known atom. Thompson had discovered the first sub-atomic particle.
From this new found information, Thompson went on to develop the plum pudding model of the atom. This model is so named because it resembles an English plum pudding. The model pictured to the right consists of one positively charged mass, and a bunch of smaller negative charged particles embedded into it.
Thompson 's model is logical as it allows for the existing understanding of atoms being neutral, as well as modelling the newly discovered sub-atomic particles. The model also shows that the electrons can be separated from the main positive …show more content…
A nuclear power plant is comprised of many components, but at it 's heart it has a nuclear fission reactor. This reactor works by the reaction of the fissile material. The fissile material is normally uranium-235 but others can be used. Each reaction that occurs emits neutrons that can induce more reactions. In order to keep this exponential process from quickly getting out of hand, control rods are inserted into the reactor core that absorb neutrons without causing a fission reaction. By controlling these rods and inserting them into the area where the fission reaction is taking place, the reaction can be