Rutherford Performed an Experiment in 1911, in which he bombarded a thin foil of a heavy metal like gold with a team of Fast Moving Alpha Particles which are doubly ionized helium ions, each having 2 units of positive charge and 4 units of mass. These were obtained from Radium placed in the cavity of a block of Lead and made into the fine beam with a slit. He Observed the Scattering of the Rays after hitting the foil by placing a circular zinc sulfide screen around the metal foil. Wherever Alpha Particles struck the screen, a flash of light is produced at that point on the screen that the heavy body Present in an atom must be occupying a very small volume.
Rutherford's Observations -
1. Most of the Particles 99.9% passes through the foil without undergoing any deflection.
2. Some Particles were deflected through small angles. hence the positive charge in an atom is not uniformly distributed. The positive charge in an atom is concentrated in a very small volume.
3. Few Particles were deflected through large angles, very few were deflected back that is an angle greater than 90 degrees. So the volume occupied by the positively charged particles in an atom is very small as compared to the total volume of an atom.
Some Facts -
1. Since most of the Alpha Particles pass through the foil without undergoing any deflection there must be sufficient empty spaces within the atom.
2. The small heavy positively charged body present within the atom is called the nucleus.
Rutherford Conclusions- Watch Video to Learn More
Atoms and molecules
atoms and molecules class 9
atomic structure
structure of atom
rutherford's gold foil experiment
rutherford's model of an atom
rutherford's atomic model
rutherford experiment
rutherford scattering experiment
rutherford alpha particle scattering experiment