how did ernest rutherford discover the atomic nucleus

Answer 1

Ernest Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus in 1911 through the famous gold foil experiment. Rutherford and his team fired alpha particles (positively charged particles) at a thin sheet of gold foil. Most of the alpha particles passed through the foil as expected, but a very small fraction of the particles were deflected at large angles, and some even bounced back in the direction from which they came. This unexpected result led Rutherford to conclude that the positive charge of the atom was concentrated in a very small, dense region at the center which he called the nucleus. Prior to this experiment, it was thought that the positive charge was evenly distributed throughout the atom. Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus paved the way for the development of modern atomic and nuclear physics.