Explain the findings from Rutherford's alpha particle scattering experiment.

Rutherford's alpha scattering experiment showed that the majority of alpha particles fired at a thin sheet of gold leaf passed straight through. Some of the particles passed through the leaf with a small angle of deflection and very few were deflected at very large angles. This showed that the majority of an atom was made up of empty space with a very small, charged nucleus in the centre of the atom. This also showed that the most of the mass was held in the nucleus.