Rutherford’s model is called the nuclear atom because it introduced the concept of a dense central nucleus that contains most of the atom’s mass, with electrons orbiting around it, much like planets around the sun.
In 1911, Ernest Rutherford conducted his famous gold foil experiment, where he bombarded a thin sheet of gold with alpha particles. He observed that while most alpha particles passed straight through the foil, a small fraction were deflected at large angles, and some even bounced back. This unexpected result led him to propose that atoms are mostly empty space but contain a tiny, positively charged nucleus at their center.
The nucleus, as Rutherford described, holds the protons (and later discovered neutrons), which are responsible for the majority of the atom’s mass. The electrons are situated in the surrounding empty space, creating a model that revolutionized the way we understand atomic structure. This concept of a nucleus became foundational in atomic physics, hence referring to it as the ‘nuclear atom’ highlights this crucial component of atomic architecture.