The Electron

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2022

⏱️ 50 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss an atomic particle that's become inseparable from modernity. JJ Thomson discovered the electron 125 years ago, so revealing that atoms, supposedly the smallest things, were made of even smaller things. He pictured them inside an atomic ball like a plum pudding, with others later identifying their place outside the nucleus - and it is their location on the outer limit that has helped scientists learn so much about electrons and with electrons. We can use electrons to reveal the secrets of other particles and, while electricity exists whether we understand electrons or not, the applications of electricity and electrons grow as our knowledge grows. Many questions, though, remain unanswered. With Victoria Martin Professor of Collider Physics at the University of Edinburgh Harry Cliff Research Fellow in Particle Physics at the University of Cambridge And Frank Close Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of Oxford Producer: Simon Tillotson

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:05.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:07.6	There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our
0:10.9	programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:14.9	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:17.0	Hello, it was in 1897 that JJ Thompson discovered the electron and revealed that atoms supposedly
0:23.2	the smallest things were made of even smaller things.
0:26.9	Tumps of vision about them has had these electrons scattered inside a ball like sultan as in
0:31.8	a Christmas pudding and over the last 125 years our knowledge of them has grown from
0:36.3	that exponentially.
0:38.5	We can use electrons to reveal the secrets of other particles and why electricity exists
0:43.2	whether we understand electrons or not.
0:45.6	The applications of electricity and electrons grow as our knowledge grows.
0:49.6	Yet many questions remain unanswered.
0:52.0	We've been admitted to discuss the electron and Victoria Martin, professor of collider physics
0:56.5	at the University of Edinburgh, Harry Cliff, research fellow in particle physics at the
1:01.1	University of Cambridge and Frank Close, professor emeritus of theoretical physics and fellow
1:05.8	emeritus at Exeter College at the University of Oxford.
1:09.8	Frank is impossible to overstate the significance of electrons but could you give us an idea?
1:15.8	Well, electrons are constituents of atoms and perhaps the most important property is that
1:20.5	they carry electric charge.
1:23.9	When you charge your laptop or your phone or maybe even your electric car, you're storing
	...

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