Mass-to-charge ratio refers to the molecular or atomic mass number and "z" to the charge number of the ion; however, the quantity of "m"/"z" is dimensionless by definition. An ion of 100 atomic mass units ("m" = 100) carrying two charges ("z" = 2) will be observed at "m"/"z" = 50. In the 19th century, the mass-to-charge ratios of some ions were measured by electrochemical methods. In 1897, the mass-to-charge ratio of the electron was first measured by J. J. Thomson. By doing this, he showed that the electron was in fact a particle with a mass and a charge, and that
Alpha particle less likely to be referred to as "alpha particles". The best-known source of alpha particles is alpha decay of heavier (> 106 u atomic weight) atoms. When an atom emits an alpha particle in alpha decay, the atom's mass number decreases by four due to the loss of the four nucleons in the alpha particle. The atomic number of the atom goes down by exactly two, as a result of the loss of two protons – the atom becomes a new element. Examples of this sort of nuclear transmutation are when uranium becomes thorium, or radium becomes radon gas, due