Ernest Rutherford and the

Gold Foil Experiment

-Jordan Heffler and Nate Rose
 Ernest Rutherford
⦿ Born August 30, 1871
⦿ Born in Bridgewater, New Zealand
⦿ Died October 19, 1937
⦿ Worked with Hans Geiger and Ernest
Marsden on Gold Foil Experiment
⦿ Famous experiment conducted at the
Physical Labs of the University of
Manchester
Rutherford
 Rutherford’s Accopmplishments
⦿ Discovered the nature of the atom in 1911 and that the
atom must have a hydrogen nuclei
⦿ Was awarded a Noble Prize for his work in atomic
disintegration in 1908
⦿ Most importantly he unleashed the power of the atom
⦿ Featured on New Zealand’s 100 dollar bill and many
other nations’ stamps for their appreciation of his
work
⦿ Was elevated to the peerage in the New Years honors
list, giving him the title Lord
⦿ Published 6 books
⦿ Created the unit (rd)
 Before the Experiment
⦿ Because the experiment was to be performed
in the dark, Rutherford had the experimenter
sit in the lab for an hour in complete
darkness, so his eyes would be immune
⦿ For accuracy, Rutherford used other foils
• (i.e. lead, aluminum, iron)
⦿ Placed a zinc sulfide screen behind the foil so
the particles that passed through could be
viewed
 The Experiment
⦿ Aimed a beam of alpha particles at a piece of
gold foil
⦿ Used other different foils, like aluminum and
iron to be more accurate
⦿ Put a zinc sulfide screen behind the gold foil
so the particles that passed through could be
displayed
 Results
⦿ According to Thomson’s theory, each alpha
particle should have passed directly through the
piece of gold foil with some small deflections
• Alpha particles are heavy, and Thomson concluded that
the charge in an atom is widely spread, so they should
have mainly gone right through the foil
⦿ Most models passed right through, but some
were deflected at a slight angle
⦿ 1 in 20,000 particles deflected off of the foil and
back at the beam
Alpha Particle Deflection
 Conclusion
• An atom must contain more than empty space
and electrons moving around
• The atom must have a positively charged
center which is much of the atom’s mass
• Alpha particles are heavy and positively
charged, and because some were deflected,
then a big part of the atom must be heavy
and also positively charged
 Conclusion
• Only a minimal amount of particles were swerved
from their path when they passed through the gold
foil, and even fewer bounced back
• The positively charged center must be very small
compared to the relative size of the atom
• Overall, most of the mass of an atom is found in the
small, positively charged nucleus, and the rest of the
atom was mostly empty space
Contribution to the Atomic Theory
• Electrons are grouped surrounding the nucleus
• Atoms aren’t just one single particle, they’re made up
of smaller subatomic particles
• Proved Thomson wrong, updated the “current” model
of the atom
⚫ Concluded that the atom contained a dense nucleus, rather
than just a lot of empty space
 Works Cited
⦿ Dingrando, Laurel. "Subatomic Particles and the
Nuclear Atom." Chemistry: Matter and Change. New
York, NY: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2005. 92-97. Print.
⦿
"Ernest Rutherford - Scientist Supreme." Ernest
Rutherford - Scientist Supreme. N.p., n.d. Web. 26
Oct. 2013.
<http://www.rutherford.org.nz/biography.htm>.
⦿
"The Gold Foil Experiment."  The Gold Foil
Experiment. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.
<http://myweb.usf.edu/~mhight/goldfoil.html>.