Rutherford's gold foil experiment

Rutherford's gold foil experiment, conducted in 1909, involved firing alpha particles at a thin sheet of gold. Most particles passed through, but some were deflected at large angles, surprising scientists. This led Rutherford to propose that atoms have a small, dense nucleus at their center, containing most of the atom's mass and positive charge, with electrons orbiting around it. The experiment challenged the existing plum pudding model of the atom and was pivotal in shaping the modern understanding of atomic structure, highlighting that atoms are mostly empty space with a central nucleus.