Question

What did Rutherford conclude from his gold foil experiment?

Answer 1

Postulates of Rutherford's model of an atom:

• In his experiment, the $\mathrm{\alpha }-$particles were made to come down on a thin gold foil.
• Many of the α-particles passed linearly through the gold foil.
• Some of the particles deviated at small angles.
• One out of every $12000$ particles appeared to bounce.

Conclusion of Rutherford's model of an atom:

• The space inside an atom is empty as most of the α-particles passed without deflection through the gold foil.
• The positive charge occupies a minimum space which indicates that very few particles were diverted from their path.
• A very small proportion of α-particles were diverted by ${180}^{\mathrm{o}}$.