how was it shown that an atom has a lot of empty space within it - Science - Structure of the Atom

Question

how was it shown that an atom has a lot of empty space within it ?

Priyanka Madhu · Accepted Answer

Atoms has lot of empty spaces was shown by Rutherford's experiment
Rutherford bombarded a thin foil of metal as Gold nearly 100 mm
thick, with a beam of fast moving α-particles The source of
alpha particle was Radium, which is a radioactive substance and it
was kept in a lead block in which slits were used to get fine beam
of α-particles <img alt="" src=
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The gold foil was plated with Zinc sulphide screen so that when the
α-particles strike over it at any place a light flash is
given out

It was observed that 
Most of the α-particles 
passed foil without deflecting which shows that an atom has lot of
empty space inside it