Asked by julie
What did Ernest Rutherford’s gold foil experiment demonstrate about atoms?
Their positive charge is located in a small region that is called the nucleus.
Their negative charge is located in small particles that are called electrons.
Their nucleus makes up the majority of the volume of the atom.
Their electrons are floating in a sea of positive charges.
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"Their positive charge is located in a small region that is called the nucleus."
Rutherford's gold foil experiment showed that most alpha particles passed straight through foil (atoms are mostly empty space) but some were strongly deflected or bounced back, implying a very small, dense, positively charged nucleus at the atom's center. It did not show that the nucleus makes up most of the volume (it is tiny), and it overturned the "electrons in a sea of positive charge" (plum-pudding) model. The existence of electrons as small negatively charged particles was established earlier.
Rutherford's gold foil experiment showed that most alpha particles passed straight through foil (atoms are mostly empty space) but some were strongly deflected or bounced back, implying a very small, dense, positively charged nucleus at the atom's center. It did not show that the nucleus makes up most of the volume (it is tiny), and it overturned the "electrons in a sea of positive charge" (plum-pudding) model. The existence of electrons as small negatively charged particles was established earlier.
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