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Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

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cathode rays. Thus, Thomson proposed what came to be known as<br />

the <strong>of</strong> the atom, in which the atom was a smear<br />

<strong>of</strong> positivity (the pudding) with the electrons as negatively charged<br />

nuggets inside <strong>of</strong> it (the plums).<br />

This model went by the boards when Ernest Rutherford and his<br />

assistants found the nucleus <strong>of</strong> the gold atom. Atoms were mostly<br />

empty space with virtually all <strong>of</strong> their mass concentrated at the<br />

middle. <strong>The</strong> empty regions were the domain <strong>of</strong> the negatively<br />

charged electrons.<br />

However, if the electrons are negatively charged and the protons are<br />

positively charged, they should attract, making the atom unstable.<br />

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