What would you like to do?
What is the Rutherford gold foil experiment?
In 1911, Ernest Rutherford conducted an experiment that proved that the mass of an atom is concentrated in the center (nucleus) of an atom. It also proved that an atom is mostly empty space.
In his experiment, he emitted positively-charged particles at a piece of gold foil. Many of the particles went straight through, some were deflected, and some were reflected.
In his experiment, he emitted positively-charged particles at a piece of gold foil. Many of the particles went straight through, some were deflected, and some were reflected.
Was this answer useful?
What component of the atom did Rutherford identify in his gold foil experiment?
Through his gold foil experiment, Rutherford identified the nucleus and believed it to be compact but containing the majority of the atom's mass, and the electron cloud. H…e figured this out based on the deflection of the alpha particles, which rarely hit the nucleus, but sometimes would hit it and deflect at high angles.
Why gold foil is used in Rutherford experiment?
1. It is used because gold was known to be a very inert element. 2. The use of gold had nothing to do with its reactivity, any more than the experiment had any connection to… chemistry. Rutherford wanted to fire alpha particles through the foil. Alpha particles are not very penetrating; a sheet of notepaper will stop most of them. To achieve a reasonable percentage of penetration the foil needed to be really thin. Gold is highly malleable; gold leaf can be made in thicknesses around 100 nm or 4 micro-inch. It was the best material for the job.
Sam Goodacre
+ 67 others
found this useful
Why did Rutherford do the gold foil experiment in a evacuated chamber?
Because he bombarded the alpha rays on thin foil of gold and alpha rays can not pass through air or gases.
How did ernest Rutherford interpret the gold foil experiment?
Before Ernest Rutherford's landmark experiment with a few pieces of metal foil and alpha particles, the structure of the atom was thought to correspond with the plum pudding m…odel. In summary, the plum pudding model was hypothesized by J.J. Thomson (the discoverer of the electron) who described an atom as being a large positively charged body that contained small, free-floating, negatively charged particles called electrons. The plum pudding model also states that the negative charge of the electrons is equivalent to the positive charge of the rest of the atom. The two charges cancel each other causing and cause the electrical charge of the atom to be zero (or neutral). The faulty aspect of this model is that it was construed before the nucleus of an atom (and its composition) was discovered; which is where Rutherford's research comes in.
What Rutherford discover in his gold foil experiment?
protons are located in the nucleus of an atom
What did Rutherford gold foil experiment allow him to discover the structure of atoms?
1) Atoms were mostly empty space (because most alpha particles went straight through the gold foil) 2) Atoms had a dense nucleus (because few alpha particles bounced straight… back from the atoms) 3) The nucleus of atoms were positively charged (some alpha particles were deflected at large angles)
How would this experiment change if Rutherford had used aluminum foil instead of gold foil?
The scattering angles would have changed, but the qualitative results would also change: the reason Rutherford chose gold was because it is EXTREMELY malleable. One can stretc…h gold foil until it is only a few atoms thick in places, which is not possible with aluminum. If the foil were too thick, there would be no transmission of particles at all; the whole point was to demonstrate that most alpha particles passed through unchanged, but some of them scattered, which is only possible with a VERY thin foil.
In what year did Rutherford do the gold foil experiment?
The Geiger-Marsden experiment, which is also called the gold foil experiment or the Rutherford experiment, was conducted by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden in 1909, under Earne…st Rutherford's direction. You need a link to the Wikipedia post on this ground-breaking experiment, and we've got one for you.
Rutherfords gold foil experiment led to the discovery of the?
Nucleus - Rutherford fired particles at gold foil, and most went straight through. This showed that most of atoms are empty, and that most of the mass only occupies a small pa…rt of the atom. This part is known as the nucleus.
Who is Rutherford and the gold foil experiment?
Rutherford was a scientist who shot alpha particles through a very thin sheet of gold foil. The results of this experiment are the following: -Almost all alpha particles passe…d right through the Gold foil -A few alpha particlas were deflected and repelled .....These conclusions show that the majority of the atom of gold is empty space except for a small, positively charged nucleus. This nucleus is the reason why some alpha particlas were deflected(Alpha particles have a positive charge, which is repelled by a positive nucleus).
Why is rutherfords experiment called the gold foil experiment?
In the experiment, Rutherford found the nucleus using gold foil.
What did Rutherford hypothesize would occur in his gold foil experiment?
He hypothesized that a beam of alpha particles would pass through thin sections of matter largely undeflected. He believed that some alpha particles would be slightly scattere…d whenever they encountered electrons.
Answered
How did the results of Rutherfords gold foil experiment differ from his expectations?
Everyone thought that the alpha particles would go through the gold- foil with little deflection. When the alpha particle passed straight through the gold atoms with no deflec…tion or bounced straight back a small fraction bounced off at a large angle, or bounced straight back to the source. Rutherford came up with a new theory of the atom, that the atom is mostly empty space and in the center there is a nucleus. this is known as the nucleus atom.
Answered
What did rutherfords gold foil experiment provide evidence for?
The experiment provided evidence for a positively charged bundle in the center of the atom. We now know this to be the nucleus.
Answered
What did rutherfords gold foil experiment demonstrate?
It demonstrated that there is positively charged nucleus and the atom is mostly empty spaced.
Answered
What did Rutherford learn about the atom from his gold-foil experiment?
Rutherford discovered that atoms are mostly empty space except for the nucleus at the center of the atom.
Answered
How did Rutherford explain the results of his gold foil experiment?
Rutherford made the following conclusions: Since most of the alpha particles passed straight through the gold foil without any deflection, most of the space within t…he atoms is empty. Since some of the alpha particles (which are big in size) were deflected by large angles or bounced backwards, they must have approached some positively charged region responsible for the deflection. This positively charged region is now called the nucleus. As very few alpha particles undergone the deflection, it was concluded that the volume occupied by the central region ( nucleus ) is very small. Since alpha particles which are relatively denser, were deflected by the central volume of charge, it shows that almost the complete mass of the atom must be within the central volume.