How did Rutherford explain the results of his gold foil experiment?

Answer 1

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 the 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.

Answer 2

Rutherford explained the results of his gold foil experiment by proposing that atoms have a small, dense, positively charged nucleus at their center, with electrons orbiting around it. Most of the atom's mass and positive charge is concentrated in the nucleus, which is why most of the alpha particles passed straight through the foil, but some were deflected at large angles or even bounced back due to hitting the nucleus. This led to the development of the nuclear model of the atom.