Suppose you made up your own ‘atom’, as Thomson described, using clay. Class 9

Suppose you made up your own ‘atom’, as Thomson described, using clay. Class 9

Pause and Ponder (Page 143)

Question 1.

Suppose you made up your own ‘atom’, as Thomson described, using clay for the positive charge and small beads for the electrons spread through it. What will happen if: Class 9

(i) the positive charge on the clay is lesser than the total negative charge of the beads?

(ii) by mistake, the clay itself carries a bit of negative charge? Would your model still represent a neutral atom?

Answer:

(i) The atom would not be electrically neutral. It would carry a net negative charge. This would not represent a real neutral atom since in a real atom, the total positive charge always equals the total negative charge, making the atom electrically neutral.

(ii) No, the model would not represent a neutral atom. If the clay (which is supposed to represent the positive sphere) carries a negative charge, then both the clay and the beads (electrons) would be negatively charged. The total charge of the model would be entirely negative. There would be no positive charge to balance the negative charge of the electrons, so the model would not represent a neutral atom.