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Rutherford's Atomic Model Explained

The Rutherford model of the atom proposed in 1911 described the atom as having a small, dense, positively charged nucleus at its center containing most of the atom's mass, surrounded by light, negatively charged electrons orbiting the nucleus similar to planets orbiting the Sun. This model was developed based on experiments by Rutherford and others that found some alpha particles emitted by radioactive sources were deflected or bounced back after hitting thin gold foil, which could only be explained if the atom had a small, dense, positively charged nucleus. The Rutherford model replaced the earlier "plum pudding" model and itself was later superseded by the Bohr model incorporating early quantum theory.

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641 views2 pages

Rutherford's Atomic Model Explained

The Rutherford model of the atom proposed in 1911 described the atom as having a small, dense, positively charged nucleus at its center containing most of the atom's mass, surrounded by light, negatively charged electrons orbiting the nucleus similar to planets orbiting the Sun. This model was developed based on experiments by Rutherford and others that found some alpha particles emitted by radioactive sources were deflected or bounced back after hitting thin gold foil, which could only be explained if the atom had a small, dense, positively charged nucleus. The Rutherford model replaced the earlier "plum pudding" model and itself was later superseded by the Bohr model incorporating early quantum theory.

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Rutherford model

Physics

Also called Rutherford atomic model, nuclear atom, or planetary model of the atom, 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, in which
nearly all the mass is concentrated, around which the light, negative constituents, called
electrons, circulate at some distance, much like planets revolving around the Sun.
The 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. 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.
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.
The Rutherford model supplanted the “plum-pudding” atomic model of English physicist Sir
J.J. Thomson, in which the electrons were embedded in a positively charged atom like plums in
a pudding. Based wholly on classical physics, the Rutherford model itself was superseded in a
few years by the Bohr atomic model, which incorporated some early quantum theory.

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