Page "Plum pudding model" Paragraph 1

The plum pudding model of the atom by J. J. Thomson, who discovered the electron in 1897, was proposed in 1904 before the discovery of the atomic nucleus in order to add the electron to the atomic model.

In this model, the atom is composed of electrons ( which Thomson still called " corpuscles ", though G. J. Stoney had proposed that atoms of electricity be called electrons in 1894 ) surrounded by a soup of positive charge to balance the electrons ' negative charges, like negatively charged " plums " surrounded by positively charged " pudding ".

The electrons ( as we know them today ) were thought to be positioned throughout the atom, but with many structures possible for positioning multiple electrons, particularly rotating rings of electrons ( see below ).

Instead of a soup, the atom was also sometimes said to have had a " cloud " of positive charge.