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Rutherford’s Alpha Scattering Experiment, Rutherford’s conducted an experiment by bombarding a thin sheet of gold with α-particles, and then studied the path of these particles after their interaction with the gold foil., Rutherford, in his experiment, directed high energy streams of α-particles from a, radioactive source at a thin sheet (100 nm thickness) of gold. He studied the deflection, caused to the α-particles and made certain observations., , Observations of Rutherford’s Alpha Scattering Experiment, The observations made by Rutherford led him to conclude that:, 1., A major fraction of the α-particles bombarded towards the gold sheet passed, through it without any deflection, and hence most of the space in an atom is empty., 2., Some of the α-particles were deflected by the gold sheet by very small angles., The positive charge in an atom is concentrated in a very small volume., 3., Very few of the α-particles were deflected back, that is only a few α-particles had, nearly 180o angle of deflection. So the volume occupied by the positively charged, particles in an atom is very small as compared to the total volume of an atom.+, Rutherford Atomic Model, Based on the above observations and conclusions, Rutherford proposed the atomic, structure of elements. According to the Rutherford atomic model:, 1., The positively charged particles and most of the mass of an atom was, concentrated in an extremely small volume. He called this region of the atom as a, nucleus., 2., Rutherford model proposed that the negatively charged electrons surround the, nucleus of an atom. He also claimed that the electrons surrounding the nucleus revolve, around it with very high speed in circular paths. He named these circular paths as orbits., 3., Electrons being negatively charged and nucleus being a densely concentrated, mass of positively charged particles are held together by a strong electrostatic force of, attraction., Limitations of Rutherford Atomic Model, Although the Rutherford atomic model was based on experimental observations it failed, to explain certain things., •, Rutherford proposed that the electrons revolve around the nucleus in fixed paths, called orbits. Calculations have shown that as per the Rutherford model, an electron, would collapse in the nucleus in less than 10-8 seconds. So Rutherford model could not, explain the stability of an atom., •, Rutherford model did not say anything about the arrangement of electrons in an, atom which made his theory incomplete.

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•, , This model could not explain the spectrum of atoms.