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At the time of Rutherford's experiment, there were competing ideas of the internal structure of atoms. One idea was the "plum pudding" model where the positive and negative charges of the atom were all mixed up together. The idea that Rutherford had was that all of the positive charge and most of the mass was concentrated at the center of an atom in a region that was its "nucleus."

Rutherford hypothesized that more alpha particles would be deflected if the positive charge and mass of the atom was more spread out, occupying a large part of the volume of the atom.The "plum pudding" model was not the only idea that had been offered for the internal structure of the atom, but none had hypothesized an extremely tiny nucleus with all of the positive charge and virtually all of the Atomic Mass and so none were consistent with his result that relatively few alpha particles were deflected and those that were deflected were deflected a great deal. It did not take long to do the theoretical calculations to show that the experimental results were consistent with a point-like nucleus of positive charge exerting a coulomb (inverse square of distance) force.

The result in now called the Rutherford model of the atom and the type of scattering observed is called Rutherford scattering.

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12y ago
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Rutherfords experiment proved the existence of a nucleus as some alpha particles "bounced back" from the gold foil sample . Thomson model did not involve a nucleus and predicted just a slight deflection or none at all.

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Rutherford conducted the Gold Foil experiment, where he shot alpha rays at a piece of gold. This caused very few of the particles to bounce back, when most of the went through it. This proved that there was a nucleus, which the particles were bouncing off of, and the rest was empty space.

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Q: How did Rutherford change Thomson's model of the atom?
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Related questions

How did Rutherfords model of the atom different from thomsons?

The Rutherford model involve a positive nucleus separated from electrons.


How did Rutherfords findings change Thomsons plum pudding model?

Rutherford supposed that the atom had a central positive nucleus surrounded by negative electrons.


How was rutherfords model similar to thomsons model and how was it different?

Rutherford's model was similar to Thomson's model in that both described atoms as having a positively charged center (nucleus) surrounded by negatively charged electrons. However, Rutherford's model differed in that he proposed that the majority of an atom's mass and positive charge was concentrated in the nucleus, with electrons orbiting around it, while Thomson's model suggested that the positive charge was uniformly distributed throughout the atom.


How did Ernest Rutherford change the atomic model?

Before Rutherford, scientists assumed that the atom was a single particle. Rutherford presented his revolutionary, physical atomic model that suggested an atom consists of a central charge (the term 'nucleus' was coined after Rutherford's model was presented) that is surrounded, presumably, by a cloud of orbiting electrons. He showed that most of an atom's mass was located in the atom's nucleus. Rutherford's model was later improved upon by Niels Bohr, father of the Bohr-model. Rutherford made no connection to an element's atomic number and the number of protons within an atom's nucleus; however, his atomic model paved the way for the discovery of this correlation only a couple years after his model was designed.


Did Ernest Rutherfords results fit with J.J Thomsons view of the atom?

Ernest Rutherford's results did not fit with J.J. Thomson's view of the atom. While Thomson proposed the "plum pudding" model with evenly distributed positive charge throughout the atom, Rutherford's gold foil experiment showed that the positive charge is concentrated in the nucleus at the center of the atom, with electrons orbiting around it.


The nuclear model of the atom was proposed by?

Rutherford


What is Rutherford atomic model?

nuclear atom


How did Rutherford's work help form the present day model of the atom?

The atomic model of Rutherford was a step in the historical development of the today concept of an atom.


What was JJ Thomsons 1904 model called?

JJ Thomson's 1904 model was called the "plum pudding model." This model described the atom as a sphere of positive charge with electrons embedded throughout, like plums in a pudding. It was later replaced by the more accurate Rutherford model.


Whose model was called planetary model of the atom?

The planetary model of the atom was proposed by Ernest Rutherford. It suggested that electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom in a manner similar to planets orbiting the sun.


Who presented thenuclear model of atom first?

Rutherford presented the nuclear model of atom first.


What is the difference between Thomsons atomic model and Rutherfords atomic model?

Thomson's atomic model (the "plum pudding" model) proposed that electrons were embedded in a positively charged sphere. Rutherford's atomic model (the nuclear model) suggested that the atom is mostly empty space, with a dense, positively charged nucleus at the center and electrons orbiting around it. Rutherford's model overturned Thomson's model by demonstrating the existence of a small, dense nucleus at the center of the atom.