Give a brief account of Thomson model of atom. What are its limitations?

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Detailed Solution

Thomson model of atom
According to Thomson, an atom is a positively charged sphere (radius about 10^-10 m) in which the entire mass and positive charge of the atom is uniformly distributed with negative electrons embedded in it.
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The number of electrons is such that their negative charge is equal to the positive charge of the atom. Thus the atom is electrically neutral. This model was called Thomson’s plum pudding model. (Water melon model)
Limitations
(i) It could not provide stability to the atom. It is because the positive and negative charges are stationary and will be drawn towards each other, thus destroying the individual negative and positive charges. However, subsequent investigations revealed that positive and negative charges in an atom remain as separate entities, although the atom is neutral as a whole.
(ii) It could not explain the large angle of scattering of α -particles when they are passed close to the atom.
(iii) It could not explain the presence of discrete spectral lines emitted by hydrogen and other atoms.

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