In the Rutherford's nuclear model of the atom, the nucleus (radius about $10^{-15} \;m$ ) is analogous to the sun about which the electron move in orbit (radius $\approx 10^{-10} \;m$ ) like the earth orbits around the sun. If the dimensions of the solar system had the same proportions as those of the atom, would the earth be closer to or farther away from the sun than actually it is? The radius of earth's orbit is about $1.5 \times 10^{11} \;m.$ The radius of sun is taken as $7 \times 10^{8}\;m$

State the dimension of the nucleus from Rutherford experiment. 

According to classical theory, Rutherford atom was

Answer the following questions, which help you understand the difference between Thomson's model and Rutherford's model better.

$(a)$ Is the average angle of deflection of $\alpha$ -particles by a thin gold foil predicted by Thomson's model much less, about the same, or much greater than that predicted by Rutherford's model?

$(b)$ Is the probability of backward scattering (i.e., scattering of $\alpha$ -particles at angles greater than $90^{\circ}$ ) predicted by Thomson's model much less, about the same, or much greater than that predicted by Rutherford's model?

$(c)$ Keeping other factors fixed, it is found experimentally that for small thickness $t,$ the number of $\alpha$ -particles scattered at moderate angles is proportional to $t$. What clue does this linear dependence on $t$ provide?

$(d)$ In which model is it completely wrong to ignore multiple scattering for the calculation of average angle of scattering of $\alpha$ -particles by a thin foil?

Discuss the experimental results of Geiger-Marsden's $\alpha $ -particle scattering.