Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment
A worksheet covering the Rutherford Gold Foil Experiment, its setup, observations, and conclusions about atomic structure for Grade 9 Science.
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Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment
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Read each question carefully and answer to the best of your ability. Refer to your knowledge of Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment.
1. What type of particles were fired at the gold foil in Rutherford's experiment?
Electrons
Protons
Alpha particles
Neutrons
2. What was the primary observation that led Rutherford to conclude that atoms have a small, dense, positively charged nucleus?
Most alpha particles passed straight through the foil.
A few alpha particles were deflected at large angles.
All alpha particles were reflected back.
The gold foil glowed brightly.
3. Before Rutherford's experiment, the prevailing model of the atom was the model, which suggested that the atom was a sphere of uniformly distributed positive charge with electrons embedded in it.
4. The positively charged central part of an atom is called the .
5. Describe the setup of Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment.
6. Observe the diagram below, which represents the Rutherford Gold Foil Experiment. Label the alpha particle source, gold foil, and detector screen.
7. Most of the atom's mass is concentrated in its electron cloud.
True
False
8. Rutherford's experiment disproved the Plum Pudding Model of the atom.
True
False
9. Explain how the observations from the Gold Foil Experiment led Rutherford to his conclusions about the structure of the atom.