Question
4. How did Rutherford's alpha-scattering experiment show that Thomson's plum pudding model of the atom was incorrect? __
Answer
4.3
(263 Votes)
Julian
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Answer
Rutherford's alpha-scattering experiment showed that Thomson's plum pudding model was incorrect by revealing that atoms have a small, dense nucleus where most of the mass and positive charge are concentrated, rather than being a diffuse cloud of positive charge with embedded electrons.
Explanation
Rutherford's alpha-scattering experiment demonstrated that most alpha particles passed through the gold foil with little deflection, while a few were deflected at large angles. This indicated that the atom has a small, dense, positively charged nucleus, contradicting Thomson's plum pudding model, which suggested a diffuse positive charge.