EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Thomson’s plum pudding model of the atom had negatively-charged electrons embedded within a positively-charged “soup.” Rutherford’s gold foil experiment showed that the atom is mostly empty space with a tiny, dense, positively-charged nucleus. Based on these results, Rutherford proposed the nuclear model of the atom.

Detailed explanation-2: -The motion of the electrons in the Rutherford model was unstable because, according to classical mechanics and electromagnetic theory, any charged particle moving on a curved path emits electromagnetic radiation; thus, the electrons would lose energy and spiral into the nucleus.

Detailed explanation-3: -Rutherford predicted that the nucleus contains positively charged particles, which he named protons. Rutherford’s model is still often used to represent the atom, which is shown in the Figure below. In 1913, Niels Bohr discovered the electrons orbiting the sun.

Detailed explanation-4: -Rutherford concluded that the atom consisted of a small, dense, positively charged nucleus in the center of the atom with negatively charged electrons surrounding it.

Detailed explanation-5: -Rutherford’s atomic model became known as the nuclear model. In the nuclear atom, the protons and neutrons, which comprise nearly all of the mass of the atom, are located in the nucleus at the center of the atom. The electrons are distributed around the nucleus and occupy most of the volume of the atom.