What are the conclusions made by Rutherford w.r.t the structure of atom?
(i) Most of the space in the atom is empty as most of the a–particles passed through the foil undeflected. (ii) A few positively charged alpha– particles were deflected. The deflection must be due to enormous repulsive force showing that the positive charge of the atom is not spread throughout the atom as Thomson had presumed. The positive charge has to be concentrated in a very small volume that repelled and deflected the positively charged alpha– particles. (iii) Calculations by Rutherford showed that the volume occupied by the nucleus is negligibly small as compared to the total volume of the atom. The radius of the atom is about 10–10 m, while that of nucleus is 10–15 m.
