Question

From his experiments, how did Rutherford conclude that most of the space inside an atom is empty??​

Answer 1

Answer:

Rutherford concluded from his metal foil experiments that most of an atom is empty space with a tiny, dense, positively charged nucleus at the center that contains most of the mass of the atom. He also concluded that the electrons orbit the nucleus like the planets orbit the sun.

Rutherford concluded from the -particle scattering experiment that: (i) Most of the space inside the atom is empty because most of the -particles passed through the gold foil without getting deflected. ... Nearly all the mass of an atom resides in the nucleus.

The alpha particles that were fired at the gold foil were positively charged. ... These experiments led Rutherford to describe the atom as containing mostly empty space, with a very small, dense, positively charged nucleus at the center, which contained most of the mass of the atom, with the electrons orbiting the nucleus.

Answer 2

Explanation:

Rutherford concluded from the -particle scattering experiment that:

(i) Most of the space inside the atom is empty because most of the -particles passed through the gold foil without getting deflected.

(ii) Very few particles were deflected from their path, indicating that the positive charge of the atom occupies very little space in an atom.

(iii) A very small fraction of -particles were deflected by very large angles, indicating that all the positive charge and mass of the gold atom were concentrated in a very small volume within the atom.

On the basis of his experiment, Rutherford put forward the nuclear model of an atom, which had the following features:

(i) There is a positively charged centre in an atom called the nucleus. Nearly all the mass of an atom resides in the nucleus.

(ii) The electrons revolve around the nucleus in well-defined orbits.

(iii) The size of the nucleus is very small as compared to the size of the atom.