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Chemistry Regents June 2005 - Question 65 |
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Written by The Chemistry Wizard
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Example Answer:
1) The atom has heavy compact central body or nucleus
2) The atom is composed of mostly empty space
Answering the Question:
The simplest way to answer this question is know the experiment and its impact on the determination of the structure of the atom. The experiment was originally based on the "plum pudding model" of the atom. This model was based on premise that electrons were free floating sub atomic particles (plum) in a matrix of positive charge (pudding). An alpha particle (α) is basically a He2+ ion or a pair of protons and a pair of neutrons. Based on the "plum pudding model", α particles would have had nothing to be deflected by and should mostly pass through the gold foil unhindered. However, it was observed that particles we being deflected in some cases greater than 90°. This indicated that α particles were coming in contact with something with characteristics suitable deflect them, which the "plum pudding model" did not support. Also the fact that most of the particles passed through unhindered also meant that the gold foil was mostly empty space at the atomic level.
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