jan 28, 1899 - Gold Foil Experiment

Description:

Rutherford reasoned that if Thomson's model was correct then the mass of the atom was spread out throughout the atom. Then, if he shot high velocity alpha particles at an atom then there would be very little to deflect the alpha particles. He decided to test this with a thin film of gold atoms. As expected, most alpha particles went right through the gold foil but to his amazement a few alpha particles rebounded almost directly backwards.

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