ERNEST RUTHERFORD Bethany Wallace Katherine Knowtlon Alex Backers

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT “ERN”  He was the fourth of 12 children  The element 'rutherfordium' was named in Rutherford’s honor  Ernest Rutherford was born in rural Spring Grove, on the South Island of New Zealand on August 30, 1871  His father, James, had little education and struggled to support the large family on a flax-miller’s income.  Ernest’s mother, Martha, worked as a schoolteacher  At the age of 10, Rutherford was handed his first science book.  Rutherford met and fell in love with his landlady’s daughter, Mary Newton. The couple married in 1900 and later welcomed a daughter, whom they named Eileen.

ERN’S IMPORTANT DATES OF SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION  January 1, Ern discovered the nucleus  January 1, Ern announced a model for the nucleus  January 1, Ern discovered protons

ERN’S GOLD FOIL EXPERIMENT PROCEDURE

ERN’S GOLD FOIL EXPERIMENT PROCEDURE CONT.  Step 1: acquire alpha particle beam  Step 2: step up lead screen with slit in the middle  Step 3: Put gold foil on opposite side of lead screen  Step 4: set up your moveable florescent screens  Step 5: shoot the alpha particles (the lasers) through the led screen with the slit in it  Step 6: look at the particles and find out if they were deflected or not  Step 7: gather data and draw a conclusion

ERN’S CONCLUSION OF GOLD FOIL EXPERIMENT  Most of the alpha particles that were shot at the foil were not changed in their paths by the foil  Most of them went right through, but some particles were deflected partially in their trajectories because they rebounded off of gold atoms.  A few alpha particles bounced a great deal backwards or even straight back along their original path. This indicated that the atoms of gold were largely empty space (most alpha particles were unaffected) but that they have some sort of massive center (which we now call the nucleus) that is very small (very few hit it) but is quite dense (alpha particles that did hit it got knocked way off course). The results challenged the belief at the time that atoms were in fact like fruit cake, the cake made of some sort of positively charged material with little bits of electron fruit embedded in it. In short: the results showed that atoms are mostly empty space but with a very dense center which we now call the nucleus.  Some of the alpha particles will not pass through the gold foil, which led Ern to his conclusion that there was something in those particles keeping them from shining through.

ERN’S PHOTO SHOOT

RESOURCES  Ernest Rutherford. (n.d.). Retrieved September 9,  Ernest Rutherford Facts, Quotes, Atom Theory, Atomic Model, Gold Foil Experiment. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2014, from  Ernest Rutherford - Scientist Supreme. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2014, from