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This is the first step of the nuclear fission. Uranium 235 is very unstable but when an extra neutron is added the atom gets aggravated, making the atom burst creating elements and three other neutrons. These three neutrons hit other atoms, starting a very big chain reaction, and finally producing huge amounts of energy.

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Why Rutherford's model of the atom is called the nuclear atom?

The Rutherford model was called the nuclear model because he decided on the atom to consist of both the nucleus, and the orbits of electrons, so he separated the nucleus from being combined with the whole atom. it is a due to his test of gold foil being shot with a cathode ray, and since most of the electrons went right through the gold foil, he assumed that the atom was filled with mostly empty space, and that is why the modern description of an atom has a huge size for where the electrons ought to be, with such a small nucleus.


What was Ernest Rutherford contribution to the atom?

Ernest did an experiment where he shot alpha particles into a gold foil that proved the concept of a nuclear atom,that is an atom with a nucleus made of protons and neutrons and have electrons moving around the nucleus in some way.His experiment did not show the position of electrons or energy levels or even how they moved.


What is shot at an isotope's nucleus to trigger a nuclear chain reaction?

neutrons


How did the gold foil experiment prove an atom was mostly empty space?

In the gold foil experiment by Rutherford, most alpha particles passed through the gold foil, indicating that atoms are mostly empty space. The few particles that were deflected showed that the positive charge of the atom is concentrated in a small, dense nucleus, which explains why most of the particles passed through without being deflected.


How did Rutherford infer that the nucleus was very small?

In conclusion... Rutherford's experiment involved a radioactive source emitting alpha particles (2 protons and 2 neutrons). The radioactive source was aimed at a thin sheet of gold. The main observation made was that a few alpha particles were repelled back the way they had come, and this was not expected. This was because the positively charged alpha particles (2 protons), by the laws of electrostatic repulsion, were repelled by the positively charged nucleus of the atoms in the gold. He then made the final conclusion of that the small nucleus of an atom is central, has a large mass and positive charge. So yes, the nucleus is small compared to the size of an atom, however it was mainly the fact that there is one concentration of positive charge (nucleus) in the atom that repelled the alpha particles that helped Rutherford to show the structure of an atom.

Related Questions

What is shot at isotope's nucleus to trigger nuclear chain reaction?

Neutrons are typically shot at an isotope's nucleus to trigger a nuclear chain reaction. When a neutron collides with a nucleus, it can cause the nucleus to split, releasing more neutrons that can trigger additional fission reactions in nearby nuclei, leading to a chain reaction.


How did Albert Einstein come up with the theory to split the atom?

I'm not sure how he thought it up exactly, but this is how I see it. The atom has electrons spinning around it which have a negative charge. In the tightly packed nucleus are neutrons with no charge and protons with a positive charge. Einstein knew that inside the nucleus are large amounts of energy waiting to be released. An earlier genius, Newton, theorized the 4 forces, 2 of which the strong and weak force located inside the nucleus of an atom. Einstein also developed his famous equation E=mc2 as well as other equations. When the atom is split the strong and weak force and large amounts of explosive energy is released, but how could it be done? You could do this by shooting a particle at an extremely high speed at the nucleus. At the time, atoms, electrons, neutrons, protons, and photons were the only known particles. Uranium has a large nucleus and is very unstable. You can't shoot an electron at it because it is too small and it would retract from the opposing electrons negative charge. You can't shoot a proton at it because it would retract from the opposing protons. If you shot a neutron at it it would go straight to the nucleus with no interference because it has no charge. When uranium is split two new atoms are formed and two neutrons are released. They will split two neighboring uranium atoms and now you have an out of control nuclear or atom explosion. More and more energy is released until the uranium is depleted.


What is the electrical charge of nucleus of an atom?

The nucleus of an atom is composed of positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. Therefore the nucleus is positively charged, and is equivalent to its atomic number found in the periodic table of the elements. For example, Hydrogen is +1, Oxygen +15. The total charge of the entire atom depends on both the number of protons and the number of electrons, which occur outside the nucleus.


Can uranium be used to generate electricity?

A neutron is shot into a uranium atom, which splits, releasing heat and a few other neutrons, which trigger other uranium atoms. The heat is captured by water, which is turned into steam, and ran through a turbine, generating electricity.


What experiment convinced Ernest Rutherford thet atom has a small positively charged nucleus?

The gold foil experiment convinced Ernest Rutherford that the atom has a small positively charged nucleus. In this experiment, alpha particles were shot at a thin gold foil. The fact that some of the alpha particles were deflected and even bounced back led Rutherford to conclude that atoms have a small, dense, positively charged nucleus.


Ernest Rutherford's contribution to the atomic structure due to the gold foil experiment?

Ernest did an experiment where he shot alpha particles into a gold foil that proved the concept of a nuclear atom, that is an atom with a nucleus made of protons and neutrons and have electrons moving around the nucleus in some way. His experiment did not show the position of electrons or energy levels or even how they moved.


Why Rutherford's model of the atom is called the nuclear atom?

The Rutherford model was called the nuclear model because he decided on the atom to consist of both the nucleus, and the orbits of electrons, so he separated the nucleus from being combined with the whole atom. it is a due to his test of gold foil being shot with a cathode ray, and since most of the electrons went right through the gold foil, he assumed that the atom was filled with mostly empty space, and that is why the modern description of an atom has a huge size for where the electrons ought to be, with such a small nucleus.


How did Rutherford's experiment change scientists' previous idea of the atom?

Rutherford shot radiation at a foil of metal, only to find that it went straight through most of the time. This lead him to theorize that the atom consisted of a dense nucleus that had most of the mass, but was much smaller than the atom itself. This hypothesis turned out to be correct.


How was Rutherford theory proven?

Rutherford's theory that atoms have a small, positively charged nucleus was proven through the famous gold foil experiment. In this experiment, alpha particles were shot at a thin gold foil, and some particles were deflected back, suggesting a small, dense nucleus within the atom. This experiment provided strong evidence for the nuclear model of the atom.


What was Ernest Rutherford contribution to the atom?

Ernest did an experiment where he shot alpha particles into a gold foil that proved the concept of a nuclear atom,that is an atom with a nucleus made of protons and neutrons and have electrons moving around the nucleus in some way.His experiment did not show the position of electrons or energy levels or even how they moved.


Why does rutherford's gold-foil experiment conclude that the atom is mostly empty space with a small massive positively charged center?

In Rutherford's gold-foil experiment, when alpha particles were shot at gold foil, most passed straight through, but some were deflected at large angles. This led Rutherford to conclude that the atom is mostly empty space, with a small, dense, positively charged nucleus at the center that caused the deflections. The majority of the atom's volume is made up of this empty space, with the nucleus containing most of the atom's mass.


How did Ernest Rutherford make a contribution to the development of the atom?

Rutherford shot subatomic alpha peticles (radiation) at gold foil and realized that most of the particles passed through the gold without interacting with it. This led to a revolutionary idea that atoms are mostly empty space and created the model of a nucleus surrounded by, but not connected to, it's electrons. An analogy I sometimes use is the idea of shooting BB's at a solid wall or at a chain link fence. None will pass through the wall but most will go right through the fence without ever touching it.