When electrons move from one point to another, say from A to B. When we apply electric field in parallel but in the opposite direction to the cathode rays and if it is sufficiently high for the cathode rays to stop, then the magnitude of the applied voltage is called stopping potential. The magnitude of deviation is proportional to the magnitude of the electric field.
When cathode rays hit from the cathode travel towards the anode and hit the anode, a fluorescence or glow is produced.Ĭathode ray deviates from its path due to the application of an electric field. When a high voltage is applied between the two electrodes of an evacuated discharge tube and the back of anode of the discharge tube is coated with a material, like zinc sulfide. They were later named electronsafter particles postulated by George Johnstone Stoney. Thomson measured the weight of cathode rays and showed that they were actually a beam of particles.
German scientists Eilhard Wiedemann, Heinrich Hertz and Goldstein said they were some new form of electromagnetic radiation. Scientists Crooks and Arthur Schuster said they were electrically charged atoms. Scientists came up with two theories regarding cathode rays when they were originally discovered. Eugene Goldstein was the one who actually gave cathode rays their name. Cathode rays were first identified by a German physicist named Johann Hittorf when he realized that something was travelling through the tube.