Rutherford’s Gold Foil Experiment: Discovery of the Nucleus

• From the gold foil experiment the following conclusions were proposed:
• The atom contains a tiny dense center called the nucleus.
• The nucleus has essentially the entire mass of the atom.
• The electrons weigh so little that they give practically no mass to the atom.
• The nucleus is positively charged.
• The amount of positive charge balances the negative charge of the electrons.
• The electrons are dispersed in the empty space of the atom surrounding the nucleus.