Proton from different gases had different values of charge-to-mass ratio (e/m), they could not be identified with a single particle, unlike the negative electrons discovered by J. J. Thomson. Wilhelm Wien in 1898 identified the hydrogen ion as particle with highest charge-to-mass ratio in ionized gases. Following the discovery of the atomic nucleus by Ernest Rutherford in 1911, Antonius van den Broek proposed that the place of each element in the periodic table (its atomic number) is equal to its nuclear charge. This was confirmed experimentally by Henry Moseley in 1913 using X-ray spectra. In 1917 (in experiments reported in 1919),
Surface charge Surface charge Surface charge is the electrical potential difference between the inner and outer surface of the dispersed phase in a colloid. There are many different processes which can lead to a surface being charged, including adsorption of ions, protonation/deprotonation, and the application of an external electric field. Surface charge causes a particle to emit an electric field, which causes particle repulsion and attraction, affecting many colloidal properties. Surface charge practically always appears on the particle surface when it is placed into a fluid. Most fluids contain ions, positive (cations) and negative (anions). These ions interact with the object surface.