Question

Can you explain the significance of Rutherford's gold foil experiment?

Answer 1

Gold Foil Experimeny

Explanation:

When Rutherford shot his alpha particles (+ charge) through gold foil, most of them went straight through the foil with no deflection, leading him to finding that most of the VOLUME of the atom was empty space. However, some of the particles were deflected, and were deflected in such a way that Rutherford was unable to recreate it without using Coulomb's law. He then found a scattering pattern, and was able to judge that the scattering was cause by the alpha particles hitting a small, positively charged, and dense, nucleus.

Answer 2

See this old answer.

Explanation:

The thinness of the gold sheet was the key.