The Plum Pudding Model is a model of atomic structure proposed by J.J. Thomson in the late 19th century. Thomson had discovered that atoms are composite objects, made of pieces with positive and negative charge, and that the negatively charged electrons within the atom were very small compared to the entire atom. read more
Problems With the Plum Pudding Model: Unfortunately, subsequent experiments revealed a number of scientific problems with the model. For starters, there was the problem of demonstrating that the atom possessed a uniform positive background charge, which came to be known as the “Thomson Problem”. read more
The plum pudding model with a single electron was used in part by the physicist Arthur Erich Haas in 1910 to estimate the numerical value of Planck's constant and the Bohr radius of hydrogen atoms. Haas' work estimated these values to within an order of magnitude and preceded the work of Niels Bohr by three years. read more
This began with J.J. Thomson's 1904 proposal of the plum pudding model, which allowed for an atom of positively charged soup with negative electrons floating throughout. Within less than a decade, scientists Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr began to question the model and created the planetary model instead. read more