Geiger and Marsden's results showed that:
* Most alpha particles passed straight through the gold foil. This was consistent with the plum pudding model, as the positive charge was thought to be spread throughout the atom.
* A small fraction of alpha particles were deflected at large angles, some even scattering back towards the source. This was completely unexpected and could not be explained by the plum pudding model.
These unexpected results led to the development of a new model of the atom by Ernest Rutherford in 1911. He proposed the nuclear model, which suggested that:
* The atom has a small, dense, positively charged nucleus at its center. This nucleus is responsible for most of the atom's mass.
* Negatively charged electrons orbit the nucleus in a cloud-like manner.
The nuclear model successfully explained the results of Geiger and Marsden's experiment. The large deflections observed were caused by the alpha particles colliding with the positively charged nucleus, while the majority of the particles passed through because the atom is mostly empty space.
Therefore, the nuclear model of the atom is supported by Geiger and Marsden's results.