Rutherford Scattering

Rutherford set up an experiment with alpha emitters firing at a thin sheet of gold leaf, in an evacuated chamber which was covered with a florescent coating.
- Most alpha particles passed straight through the foil with no deflection - this suggested that the atom is mostly empty space (and not a uniform density as suggested by the plum pudding model).
- A small amount of particles were deflected by a large angle - this suggested that the centre of the atom is positively charged, as positively charged alpha particles were repelled from the centre and deflected.
- Very few particles were deflected back by more than 90° - this suggested that the that the centre of the atom was very dense as it could deflect fast moving alpha particles, but also that is was very small as a very small amount of particles were deflected by this amount.