Rutherford the New Zealand Chemist
Birth:08/30,1871 Death:10/19,1937
Birth:08/30,1871 Death:10/19,1937
Ernest Rutherford, a chemist & physicist, discovered the real structure of the atom, where the atom had a nucleus with electrons orbiting around. Before Rutherford, Thomson concluded the theory that atoms looked like the "plum pudding model" where the atom was just a circle, the electrons were inside the atom, & the charge was widely spread. However, as Rutherford conducted the Geiger-Marsden experiment, which used alpha particles & gold foil, he began to see the defect in Thomson's theory. As the alpha particles were beamed at the gold foil, the ray should have passed right through the foil according to Thomson's theory, however many of the alpha particles were deflected due to the fact that both, the protons from the atom and the alpha particles, are positive & since the proton were in the center of the atom with the electrons on the outer side. Stunned by the results, Rutherford the concluded that atoms weren't "plum pudding" & created the "Planetary model" ,also known as the Rutherford model. Rutherford's discovery allowed scientist to understand the atom's structure more & allowed them to comprehend compounds & their properties.
Rutherford's Atom Structure Theory:
- Major portion of the atom is empty.
-The whole mass of the atom is concentrated in the center of atom called nucleus.
-The charge on the nucleus of an atom is equal to (+z.e) where Z= charge number, e = charge of proton.
-The electrons revolve around the nucleus in different circular orbits.
-Size of nucleus is very small as compare to the size of atom.
