The nucleus is very small compared to the atom as a whole: as electrons are even smaller, most of an atom is empty space the diameter of a nucleus can be 100,000 times less than the diameter of an ...

The discovery of the make-up of the nucleus (protons and neutrons) came much later, and was not made by Rutherford. The nucleus was calculated to be about 1/10,000th the size of the atom.

He discovered the atomic nucleus and developed a model of the atom that was similar to the solar system. Like planets, electrons orbited a central, sun-like nucleus. Acceptance of this model grew ...

The picture shows a close-up of one carbon atom. A hydrogen atom has one proton as the nucleus and one electron in the region outside the nucleus. The electron and proton are attracted to each other.