Which experimental evidence supports Ernest Rutherford's theory that the atom is mostly empty space

Question

aaronq · Answer

are you familiar with the gold foil experiment?

anonymous · Answer

right, ruffy studied the scattering of alpha particles as they pass through a thin sheet of gold. they observed that most of the particles were not deflected. instead the particles passed straight through and landed on the screen without having their trajectories altered. the result suggested to ruffy that the positive charge at the nucleus is concentrated in a very small region, and most of the volume of an atom is really just empty space (in which the electrons roam around).

preetha · Answer

Hahah.  Ruffy!!! My favorite experiment BTW.