plum pudding model

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. An obsolete scientific model of the atom, devised shortly after the discovery of the electron but before the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and according to which the atom is composed of electrons surrounded by a soup of positive charge to balance the electrons' negative charges. It was disproved in 1909.

Word forms

plum pudding model the plum pudding model

Etymology

The electrons are viewed as negatively-charged "plums" in a positively-charged "pudding".

Related words

Thomson's hypothesis
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