Question

Explain why the observation of alpha particles scattered at very large angles led Rutherford to reject Thomson’s model of the atom and to propose a nuclear model.

Short answer

Alpha particle scattered at very angles because when an alpha particle come very near to nucleus of gold atom then it feel high repulsive electric force in opposite direction and then it deflect with large angle

Step-by-step solution

Given information

We need to explain why the observation of alpha particles scattered at very large angles led Rutherford to reject Thomson’s model of the atom and to propose a nuclear model.

Explanation

- Most of the α-particles passed straight through the gold foil.

- Some of the α-particles were deflected by small angles.

- Surprisingly one out of every 12,000 alpha particles appeared to rebound by 180 degree.

from second observation of Rutherford experiment very few alpha particle were deflected by large angle which prove that very small dense part have a positive part and this contradict the Thomson model of atom Thomson present atom like watermelon and red part of it are positive charge.

when an alpha particle come very close to nucleus of gold atom a high repulsive force face by an alpha particle and deflect by large angle.

This led Rutherford to reject Thomson’s model of the atom and to propose a nuclear model.