Rutherford, Ernest, atomic structure studies

By the late 1800s most scientists were convinced that matter was composed of atoms. However, they did not know the basic structure of the atom. Were atoms solid spheres like billiard balls, or were they soft and pliable like blueberry muffins In 1909 the internal structure of the atom was studied by Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937). Rutherford examined atomic structure by directing small particles, called alpha particles, at a thin sheet of gold foil (Figure 1-10). If the atoms in the foil were like soft blueberry muffins, an idea favored by Rutherford, the small particles should shoot right through the gold foil. 

MOSLEY. HENRY 11887-1915). A British chemist who studied under Ernest Rutherford and brilliantly developed the application of X-ray spectra to the study of atomic structure his discoveries resulted in a more accurate positioning of elements in the periodic tahle hy closer determination of atomic numbers. Tragically for the development of seienee. Moscly was killed in action al Gallipoli in 1915. 

Ernest Rutherford studied atomic structure in 1910-1911 by firing a beam of alpha particles at thin layers of gold leaf. According to Thomson s model, the path of an alpha particle should be deflected only slightly if it struck an atom, but Rutherford observed some alpha particles bouncing almost backwards, suggesting that nearly all the mass of an atom is contained in a small positively charged nucleus. 

Rutherford, Ernest (1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson) (1871-1937) New Zealand-born British pioneer of subatomic particle physics who proposed the nuclear structure of the atom. He studied the radioactive disintegration of elements and correctly predicted the existence of the neutron. Rutherford won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1908. 

The plum pudding structure of the atom was short-lived. It was disproved by Ernest Rutherford, one of Thomsons best students. Rutherford was an unlikely scientist. He was born and raised in rural New Zealand, about as far as you can get from the worlds scientific centers. He became interested in science while in elementary school. He did well at it immediately, winning scholarship after scholarship and degree after degree, all in physics or mathematics. At age 23, Rutherford got the job he wanted. He was awarded a fellowship to study at Cambridge. He elected to work with J.J. Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory, the most advanced physics lab in the world. 

The eighth Nobel Prize was awarded to Ernest Rutherford for his work on the composition of the atom. While today this work might be considered more in the realm of physics, this award for chemistry emphasizes the overlap of the two fields. Chemistry could not progress without physics, but we dare say physics would not progress without chemists. Wilhelm Ostwald received the ninth Nobel Prize for his work in the field of physical chemistry, as this study of the border area between physics and chemistry came to be known. Otto Wallach, another product of Kekule s laboratories, received the tenth Nobel Prize for his work in organic chemistry, mostly on elucidating structures of plant oils, terpenes. The eleventh prize went to Marie Curie for her chemical work on polonium and radium. She had already shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics with her husband and Henri Becquerel... 

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