Here's a breakdown of the situation:
* The prevailing theory (Thomson's Plum Pudding Model): At the time, scientists believed that the atom was a positively charged sphere with electrons embedded within it, like plums in a pudding.
* Rutherford's expectation: Rutherford suspected that the atom's positive charge was concentrated in a much smaller, denser region, which he would later call the nucleus.
* The experiment: Rutherford aimed a beam of alpha particles (positively charged particles) at a thin gold foil. He expected the alpha particles to pass straight through the foil if the atom was indeed a diffuse, positively charged sphere.
* The surprising results: To his astonishment, a significant number of alpha particles were deflected at large angles, and some even bounced back directly. This unexpected outcome contradicted the prevailing theory.
Therefore, Rutherford's "hypothesis" wasn't a specific statement he was trying to prove. Instead, it was a questioning of the existing model and a search for a more accurate representation of the atom.
The results of the experiment led him to propose the nuclear model of the atom, where a dense, positively charged nucleus is surrounded by negatively charged electrons orbiting it.
In essence, Rutherford's experiment wasn't about proving a specific hypothesis but rather about challenging an accepted theory and discovering a more accurate representation of the atom.
