Ernest+Rutherford

Ernest Rutherford [] [] Describe the set-up for Rutherford’s Gold Foil Experiment. Include a visual. What was he doing in the experiment? Explain the outcome of the Gold Foil Experiment. Summarize his model of the atom. Rutherford’s model changed our view of the atom. Compare and contrast his model to Thomson’s model. What new knowledge did we gain? What was wrong with Thomson’s model? Did any of Thomson’s ideas continue to be valid? __ Gold Foil Experiment __ Set up : Set up looked like that Outcome:
 * First set up a source of alpha particles that produced them into a beam
 * Then shot the particles at a thin piece of gold foil that surrounded a fluorescent screen that would detect the alpha particles
 * He discovered that every so often the positively charged alpha particles would hit something in the gold foil and bounce off and create a reflection
 * Positive charged alpha particles were hitting the positively charged nucleus of the atoms in foil

Basically Rutherford's model of the atom had a sulfer zinc paper like a fluorescent screen in it. Then he put the gold paper to deflect particles. The particles were lights getting deflected and seen in random spaces all around. This showed how the particles like to be spaced and that in the middle there was the nucleus, which they knew had to be positively charged. The nucleus was the thing in the middle making some particles getting deflected.

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The difference between Rutherford's model and Thomson's model was that Rutherford said that the particles scattered while Thomson said they are sphereically distributed. What we gained from Thomson's model was the finding of the electron and being negatively charged. Thomas finding the electron and finding it to be negatively charged was always vaild. =====

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Thomson's final conclusion was that each atom consisted of a close sphere of positive electricity, inside of that sphere were negative electrons. Where as Rutherford's conclusion was that an atom was made of a dense, positive charged nucleus surrounded by empty space where the electron could be. The knowledge we gained was that electrons move around the nucleus not in a fixed position. Thomson's model didn't deal with particles deflecting by gold foil that moved in an opposite direction from the beginning. =====