Biology Chemistry Computer Engineering Electronics Mathematics Physics Science Home

Rutherford Gold Leaf Experiment

 Rutherford bombarded a very thin leaf of the element gold with a stream of high speed positively charged particles.

He observed than most of the particles went right through the gold foil.  Very few bounced back and very few others were deflected.

This proved that:

  1. the atom had a dense but very small positive core
  2. the electrons were far away from the nucleus
  3. the electrons were separated from the nucleus by a lot of empty space

The view of the atom as perceived after Rutherford's famous Gold Foil Experiment:
 

Dense, small nucleus with protons (positively charged particles)

Electrons rotating at high speed around the nucleus are kept in orbit by the speed.

Neutron in the nucleus (neutrally charged particles having the same mass as protons) were added later to the model.