Rutherford’s

Atomic
Theory
GROUP-3 REPORT
 Table of contents
01 02 03
Introduction Terminologies Biography
Brief introduction about Vocabulary associated Biography of Ernest
our topic. with the topic Rutherford

04 05 06
Atomic Theory Atomic Model Hypothesis
Hypothesis by Rutherford
01
Introduction
Objectives:
1. Find out who's Ernest Rutherford.
2. Learn about Ernest Rutherford's theory;
and
3. The importance of Rutherford’s theory in
Science.
Terminologies
Unlocking word difficulty.
02
 Unlocking Words Difficulty
Theory - a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one
based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained.
Atom – is the smallest unit of matter that forms a chemical element and has the
characteristics properties of that element.
Nucleus - nucleus is the positively charged centre of the atom consisting of protons and
neutrons.
Proton - is a positively charged particle that resides within the atomic nucleus.
Neutron - a particle found in the nucleus of an atom. It is almost identical in mass to a
proton, but carries no electric charge.
Electron - is a stable subatomic particle with a negative electrical charge.
Radioactivity - the emission of ionizing radiation or particles caused by the spontaneous
disintegration of atomic nuclei
Alpha particles - a helium nucleus emitted by some radioactive substances, originally
regarded as a ray.
 Biography
03 Biography of Ernest
Rutherford.
 Ernest Rutherford

Ernest Rutherford
- 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM,
PRS, HonFRSE (30 August 1871 – 19
October 1937) was a New Zealand
physicist who was a pioneering
researcher in both atomic and nuclear
physics. Rutherford has been
described as "the father of nuclear
physics", and "the greatest
experimentalist since Michael Faraday
".
Ernest Rutherford
Born on a farm in New Zealand, the fourth of 12
children, Rutherford completed a degree at the
University of New Zealand and began teaching
unruly schoolboys. He was released from this
task by a scholarship to Cambridge University,
where he became J. J. Thomson’s first graduate
student at the Cavendish Laboratory.
There he began experimenting with the
transmission of radio waves, went on to join
Thomson’s ongoing investigation of the
conduction of electricity through gases, and then
turned to the field of radioactivity just opened up
by Henri Becquerel and Pierre and Marie Curie.
Atomic
04
Theory
 Atomic Theory
o Rutherford model, description of the
structure of atoms proposed (1911) by
the New Zealand-born physicist Ernest
Rutherford. The model described the
atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged
core called a nucleus, around which the
light, negative constituents, called
electrons, circulate at some distance.
 Atomic
05
Model
.
Rutherford’s Model
In the early part of the 20th Century
physicist Ernest Rutherford, and his team,
carried out a series of experiments
exploring the atom by shooting high speed
positively charged alpha particles at a thin
piece of gold foil. Alpha particles were
known from earlier work that had been
done in radioactivity, but scientists were
still not sure if they were bits of atoms.
Alpha particles were later discovered to be
the nuclei of helium atoms.
 Rutherford’s Model
What Rutherford discovered was that most of the alpha
particle "bullets" passed straight through the gold foil,
as though it were empty space. The occasional particle
was diverted from its course by something very small
and dense in the gold atoms. The Rutherford atomic
model was also known as the "Rutherford nuclear
atom" and the "Rutherford Planetary Model". In 1911,
Rutherford described the atom as having a tiny, dense,
and positively charged core called the nucleus.
Rutherford established that the mass of the atom is
concentrated in its nucleus. The light, negatively
charged, electrons circulated around this nucleus.
 Rutherford’s Model
Rutherford's model varied from Dalton's and Thompson's models in that he considered that most of the atom
was empty space, whereas in the earlier models the atom was considered solid. he nucleus was postulated as
small and dense to account for the scattering of alpha particles from thin gold foil, as observed in a series of
experiments performed by undergraduate Ernest Marsden under the direction of Rutherford and German
physicist Hans Geiger in 1909.

A radioactive source emitting

alpha particles (i.e., positively
charged particles, identical to the
helium atom nucleus and 7,000
times more massive than electrons)
was enclosed within a protective
lead shield. The radiation was
focused into a narrow beam after
passing through a slit in a lead
screen
 Rutherford’s Model

A thin section of gold foil was placed in front of the slit, and a screen coated with zinc
sulfide to render it fluorescent served as a counter to detect alpha particles. As each
alpha particle struck the fluorescent screen, it produced a burst of light called a
scintillation, which was visible through a viewing microscope attached to the back of
the screen. The screen itself was movable, allowing Rutherford and his associates to
determine whether or not any alpha particles were being deflected by the gold foil.
 Rutherford’s Model
Most alpha particles passed straight through
the gold foil, which implied that atoms are
mostly composed of open space. Some alpha
particles were deflected slightly, suggesting
interactions with other positively charged
particles within the atom. Still other alpha
particles were scattered at large angles, while a
very few even bounced back toward the source.

(Rutherford famously said later, “It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a
piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you.”) Only a positively charged and relatively heavy
target particle, such as the proposed nucleus, could account for such strong repulsion. The negative
electrons that balanced electrically the positive nuclear charge were regarded as traveling in circular
orbits about the nucleus. The electrostatic force of attraction between electrons and nucleus was
likened to the gravitational force of attraction between the revolving planets and the Sun. Most of
this planetary atom was open space and offered no resistance to the passage of the alpha particles.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis made by
Rutherford
06
 Hypothesis by Rutherford
 There is a positive charged centre in an atom called
nucleus. Nearly all the mass of an atom resides in the
nucleus.
 The electrons revolve around the nucleus in circular
path.
 The size
y of the nucleus is very small compared to the
x size of the atom
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