<p>Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_104465" style="width: 800px"><a href="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/37ab6b37-a62b-453e-b0b8-486c5fe6c3e4"><img alt="rutherford" class="size-full wp-image-104465" height="1073" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/37ab6b37-a62b-453e-b0b8-486c5fe6c3e4" width="800"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">New Zealand chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937). Image credit: public domain</p></div>
<h2>Rutherford's Model of the Atom</h2>
<p>Rutherford carried out some experiments which led to a <a data-lesson="chemistry-104-summary-1" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="physical-and-chemical-change" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/physical-and-chemical-change/chemistry-104-summary-1">change</a> in ideas around the atom. His new model described the atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged core called a nucleus surrounded by lighter, negatively charged electrons. Another way of thinking about this model was that the atom was seen to be like a mini solar system where the electrons <a data-lesson="energy-electron-bohr-orbit" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="electronic-structure-of-atoms" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/electronic-structure-of-atoms/energy-electron-bohr-orbit">orbit</a> <a data-lesson="the-nucleus-2" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="chemistry-essential-ideas" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/chemistry-essential-ideas/the-nucleus-2">the nucleus</a> like planets orbiting around the sun. A simplified picture of this is shown alongside. This model is sometimes known as the planetary model of the atom.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 465px"><img alt="7afa6c93a48fb5596b12dc6012b47645.png" height="288" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/d8683e40-642d-4f21-ada6-11c1f036fd2d" width="465"/><p class="wp-caption-text">Rutherford's model of the atom.</p></div>
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Rutherford's Model of the Atom

Chemistry generally explores the substances of which matter is composed, the investigation of their properties and reactions, and the use of such reactions to form new substances. 

Chemistry

Explore the essential ideas in chemistry, including the scientific method, laboratory skills and safety, states of matter, measurement uncertainty, models of the atom, electronic configurations, and more.


Rutherford's Model of the Atom

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