According to Rutherford’s atomic model, the electrons (planets) move around the nucleus (sun) in well-defined orbits.Electrostatic forces of attraction hold the nucleus and electrons together.Therefore, it is also referred to as the Planetary Model. This arrangement also resembles the solar system, where the nucleus forms the sun and the electrons are the revolving planets.
Electrons surround the nucleus and move around it at very high speeds in circular paths called orbits.Rutherford called this region the nucleus. Most of the mass of the atom and the positive charge is densely concentrated in a very small region in the atom.Rutherford’s calculations show that the volume of the nucleus is very small compared to the total volume of the atom and the radius of an atom is about 10 -10m, while that of the nucleus is 10 -15m.īased on his observations and conclusions, Rutherford proposed his model of the structure of the atom.
The positive charge has to be concentrated in a very small volume to deflect the positively charged α-particles. This suggests that the positive charge is not uniformly spread throughout the atom as Thomson had proposed. The deflection of a few positively charged α-particles must be due to the enormous repulsive force.Since most of the α-particles passed through the foil undeflected, most of the space in the atom is empty.Thomson’s model versus Rutherford’s model Conclusions of the α-scattering experimentīased on the above results, Rutherford made the following conclusions about the structure of the atom: A tiny flash of light was produced at a point on the screen whenever α-particles struck it. A circular, fluorescent zinc sulfide screen was present around the thin gold foil. In this experiment, high energy α-particles from a radioactive source were directed at a thin foil (about 100nm thickness) of gold. α-Particle Scattering Experiment Experiment To come up with their model, Rutherford and his students – Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden performed an experiment where they bombarded very thin gold foil with α-particles. The second of the atomic models was the contribution of Ernest Rutherford. You can download Structure of Atom Cheat Sheet by clicking on the download button below Thomson was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his theories and experiments on electricity conduction by gases. However, its propositions were not consistent with the results of later experiments.
Thomson’s atomic model was successful in explaining the overall neutrality of the atom. Therefore, this model is also referred to as the watermelon model, the plum pudding model or the raisin pudding model.Īn important aspect of this model is that it assumes that the mass of the atom is uniformly distributed over the atom. Thomsons’ atomic model Doesn’t the figure above remind you of a cut watermelon with seeds inside? Or, you can also think of it as a pudding with the electrons being the plum or the raisins in the pudding.