1. By Adam Birsic and Jared Bobeck
Ernest Rutherford

2. Background Born August 30, 1871 Died October 19, 1937
He was a New Zealand-born British physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics.
Became director of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University in 1919.
Ashes were buried in Westminster Abbey, London.

3. Rutherford/Planetary Model
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This is the model of the atom created by Rutherford.
In 1909, Rutherford directed the Geiger-Marsden Experiment (Gold Foil) which suggested that J.J. Thomson’s “plum pudding model” was incorrect.

4. Rutherford/Planetary Model

5. The Atomic Theory
His theory described the atom as having a central positive nucleus surrounded by negative orbiting electrons.
It also suggested that most of the mass of the atom was contained in the small nucleus, and the rest of the atom was empty space.
These findings were a result of the Gold Foil experiment.

6. The Gold Foil Experiment
Involved the firing of radioactive particles through minutely thin metal foils.
They were then detected by using screens coated with zinc sulfide (a scintillator).
Although most particles passed straight through the foil approximately 1 in 8000 were deflected.
This led to his Atomic Theory.

7. Gold Foil Experiment

8. The Proton
In 1917, he was widely credited with first “splitting the atom” in nuclear reaction between nitrogen and alpha particles.
Through this experiment, he discovered positively charged particles in the nucleus of the atom and named them “protons”.

9. Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford