Chapter 272 The Birth of the Electron
Zhang Xingjiu was not in a hurry to publish a paper this time, because this experiment was different from the blackbody radiation experiment. If he could do this experiment, he would only be one step away from the discovery of the electron, and he could break through it with a little inspiration.
So if he published the paper now, there was a possibility that other scholars would discover more important results first. Although Zhang Xingjiu was confident in his speed, he had to be on guard. What if something went wrong during the experiment? Even if it didn't, if two scholars made breakthroughs at the same time within a short time, would the academic community recognize him more as a scholar from China, or an authoritative expert from a famous university such as Cambridge, Oxford, or Göttingen?
Zhang Xingjiu did not think that the academic world was pure, especially in the 19th century, an era full of discrimination, so he decided to wait until the most important results were produced before writing the paper and publishing it all at once.
This might allow him to have fewer opportunities to publish papers, but it would be safer. As for those few papers that he missed, Zhang Xingjiu didn't care. Publishing a paper in a top journal was a great achievement for an ordinary scholar, but it was nothing for a great scholar.
After listening to Zhang Xingjiu's plan, Lippmann did not object. "Your concerns are indeed reasonable. Then continue to do the experiment at your own pace. When you make new breakthroughs in the future, I will support you."
With this, Zhang Xingjiu felt more at ease. Lippmann's character and influence were still trustworthy. With his support, the chances of his achievements being instigated by other scholars were reduced.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel fortunate again that he had chosen a suitable school. If he had gone to Oxford, Cambridge or Göttingen, he might not have met such a teacher.
Back in the laboratory, Zhang Xingjiu immediately came up with a new experimental plan - to test the movement path of cathode rays in electric and magnetic fields.
The metal tube that receives the charge is installed on the side. It does not receive any charge normally. Only when the magnetic field is large enough will the electrometer give an indication. If the magnetic field is increased further, the indication of the electrometer will decrease to zero, which means that the charges do come from cathode rays.
Pierre once again completed the experimental preparations efficiently. Zhang Xingjiu really liked such an experimental partner. With the cooperation of such a talented experimental manager, he saved a lot of time. If it were someone else, it would not be so smooth.
It might take several months just to modify the equipment. In this case, even if Zhang Xingjiu knew the answer in advance, he might still be overtaken by the Cavendish Laboratory.
The new experiment started. After several failures and debugging, Zhang Xingjiu got the results he wanted. The experimental data showed that under the action of magnetic field and electric field, cathode rays and negative charges have the same movement path.
Therefore, we can boldly infer that cathode rays are composed of a stream of negatively charged particles.
"This experiment can end the debate in the physics community about whether cathode rays are electromagnetic waves or particle streams. Son, I'm proud of you. Such an achievement is enough to serve as a doctoral thesis, and you produced it in your first year of undergraduate studies." Lippmann was amazed after watching the experiment.
"So, can we start writing the paper now?" Lang Zhiwan asked eagerly. He couldn't wait to see Professor Thomson's surprised expression.
"No, not yet." Zhang Xingjiu shook his head again. "This experiment only proves that cathode rays are particle streams, composed of some negatively charged particles, but what are these particles? Are they atoms or molecules? Or particles of matter smaller than atoms or molecules? We still don't have the answer."
"So we must conduct the next experiment as soon as possible to measure the exact value of the mass and charge of this particle, so that it can be a complete experiment."
At present, these two experiments can be said to be the most important achievements of the Department of Physics at Sorbonne University this year. Now that Zhang Xingjiu wants to do a new experiment, Professor Lippmann will certainly not object.
He immediately gave his utmost support, "Then you should come up with a new experimental plan as soon as possible! Just tell me what equipment you need and how much money you need. If the department's annual budget can support it, then it will come from the department. If it is not enough, I will find a new source of funds for you. There is only one thing you need to do now, and that is to complete this experiment as soon as possible!"
Professor Lippmann appeared calm on the outside, but he was actually very excited. This year, the Sorbonne University had already taken the lead in the field of black-body radiation, and it would be great if they could now make a major breakthrough in cathode ray research.
If it can continue to achieve outstanding results in these two fields, perhaps in the near future the Department of Physics at the Sorbonne University will surpass many universities in the UK and Germany and become one of the world's top universities.
As for American universities, they are not currently taken seriously by the European scientific community. Although they occasionally have breakthroughs, they are still in a catching-up position in most fields.
Measuring the particle mass and charge of cathode rays is a difficult task because a cathode ray the size of a pencil tip contains hundreds of billions of high-speed moving particles.
Based on the result that the cathode rays had a range of about half a centimeter in the atmosphere, Zhang Xingjiu first inferred that the mass of the unknown particle was much smaller than that of the hydrogen ion, even less than one thousandth.
Another experiment was conducted to test the charge of gas ions, and the charge of the unknown particles was measured.
Based on these results, it can be concluded that cathode ray particles are much smaller than ordinary molecular atoms and are components of atoms.
In 1874, Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney pointed out after studying the phenomenon of electrolysis that there was a "single definite charge" e. He estimated this value through Faraday's law of electrolysis. However, he believed that these charges were permanently attached to atoms and could not be removed, and officially named this particle "electron".
Zhang Xingjiu followed Stoney's statement and called this newly discovered particle "electron."
At this point, this series of experiments can finally be declared a success, and the new paper can be started, still with him as the main author and Lang Zhiwan as the assistant.
The two young men stayed up all night to complete the paper, and showed it to Professor Lippmann in the morning without even taking time to sleep.
Professor Lippmann read the paper carefully and did not speak for a long time, because he knew too well how important such a discovery was.
After a long while, he slowly spoke, "This discovery can be said to be the most important discovery of 1896 in the Department of Physics at the Sorbonne University. No, in the world of physics!"
"It's just in time for the last issue of Nature this year, so let's use this paper to give the physics world of 1896 the best gift possible!"
Ah, some readers said they don't like to read plagiarism, so let's skip the plot of the novel. The next chapter will still be late (end of this chapter)
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