How was the nucleus of an atom discovered?
Answers
The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. ... Almost all of the mass of an atom is located in the nucleus, with a very small contribution from the electron cloud.
Answer:
Firstly what is Nucleus :
The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford.
Discovery of Nucleus:
In 1911, Lord Ernest Rutherford discovered nucleus during his gold foil scattering experiment. A thin gold foil was bombarded with positively charged alpha - particles from a radioactive source of the Alpha-particles passed through without any deflection. The point at which Alpha-particle struck the circular zinc sulphide screen, a flash of light was given out.
Conclusion of Rutherford's experiment:
1) Most of the Alpha-particles passed through the foil straight without any deflection showing that the atom is made up of large empty space.
2. Very few Alpha-particles were deflected through small angles showing that there must be positively charged particles present at the centre of the atoms.
3. Some Alpha-particles deflected back and as Alpha-particles are heavier they could be deflected back only when they strike some heavier particles inside the atom, He concluded that the small heavy positively charged body is present within the atom and
was called nucleus.
