Because Gold has highest ductility and malleability and may be drawn into very thin sheet which is not possible for other metals.
Rutherford supervised the experiment in his famous beta particle scatter experiment with gold foil, so he is given credit.
Ernest Rutherford conducted the gold foil experiment in 1909 at the University of Manchester. He aimed to investigate the structure of the atom and discovered that atoms have a small, positively charged nucleus at their center.
The gold foil experiment supplanted the plum pudding theory. The gold foil experiment led to the discovery that most of the atoms mass is located in the dense nucleus.
th gold foil experiment
In the experiment, Rutherford found the nucleus using gold foil.because he used a thin sheet of gold foil.Because he used a gold foil (the only metal that can be hammered into a 1 atom thick foil without tearing) in an attempt to scatter alpha particles.The unexpected result that instead of all of the alpha particles scattering through small forward angles, a few bounced almost directly back to the source. This made the Thompson "plum pudding" model of the atom unworkable and suggested that each atom had a tiny "infinitely hard" kernel somewhere inside it. Rutherford named this kernel the nucleus.
For Rutherford's gold foil experiment, you will need the following materials: thin gold foil, alpha particles, a source for the alpha particles, a fluorescent screen or detector to observe the scattered particles, and a vacuum chamber to prevent air molecules from interfering with the experiment.
The gold-foil experiment led scientists to conclude that an atom's volume is mainly unoccupied.
The electrons would have been attracted to the atomic nuclei of the gold foil.
Ernest Rutherford used metallic foil, specifically gold foil, as a target for alpha particle bombardment in his famous gold foil experiment. This experiment led to the discovery of the atomic nucleus and the development of the nuclear model of the atom.
The gold foil experiment convinced Ernest Rutherford that the atom has a small positively charged nucleus. In this experiment, alpha particles were shot at a thin gold foil. The fact that some of the alpha particles were deflected and even bounced back led Rutherford to conclude that atoms have a small, dense, positively charged nucleus.
The atom.
The nuclear atom was discovered by Ernest Rutherford. He did it with a gold foil experiment.