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The nucleus was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's efforts to test Thomson's "plum pudding model" of the atom. [10] The electron had already been discovered by J. J. Thomson. Knowing that atoms are electrically neutral, J. J. Thomson postulated that there must be a positive charge as well.
Rutherford's new model [1] for the atom, based on the experimental results, contained new features of a relatively high central charge concentrated into a very small volume in comparison to the rest of the atom and with this central volume containing most of the atom's mass; this region would be known as the atomic nucleus.
Top: Expected results: alpha particles passing through the plum pudding model of the atom undisturbed. Bottom: Observed results: a small portion of the particles were deflected, indicating a small, concentrated charge. Diagram is not to scale; in reality the nucleus is vastly smaller than the electron shell.
The prevailing model of atomic structure before Rutherford's experiments was devised by J. J. Thomson. [1]: 123 Thomson had discovered the electron through his work on cathode rays [2] and proposed that they existed within atoms, and an electric current is electrons hopping from one atom to an adjacent one in a series.
The current theoretical model of the atom involves a dense nucleus surrounded by a probabilistic "cloud" of electrons. Atomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. The definition of the word "atom" has changed over the years in response to scientific discoveries.
Thus, the planetary model of the atom was discarded in favor of one that described atomic orbital zones around the nucleus where a given electron is most likely to be found. [ 34 ] [ 35 ] This model was able to explain observations of atomic behavior that previous models could not, such as certain structural and spectral patterns of atoms ...
A schematic of the nucleus of an atom indicating β − radiation, the emission of a fast electron from the nucleus (the accompanying antineutrino is omitted). In the Rutherford model for the nucleus, a red sphere was a proton with positive charge, and a blue sphere was a proton tightly bound to an electron, with no net charge.
These properties suggested a model in which electrons circle the nucleus like planets orbiting a star. The classical model of the atom is called the planetary model, or sometimes the Rutherford model—after Ernest Rutherford who proposed it in 1911, based on the Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment, which first demonstrated the existence of ...