If a particle hits a gold nucleus in a head-on collision, the two would come to a rest for a very brief moment and then the particle would bounce straight back. This is describing a hypothetical situation proposed for Rutherford's gold foil experiment where he confirmed a small positively charged nucleus was present in atoms.
The discovery of the atomic nucleus was made during the gold foil experiment by Ernest Rutherford in 1909. He observed that most of the alpha particles passed straight through the gold foil, indicating that atoms have a small, dense nucleus at their center.
A gold bar is made up of gold particles known as atoms. Gold is a metal with the chemical symbol Au and each gold atom contains 79 protons in its nucleus.
The smallest particle in gold should in fact be gold. Gold is an element, Au, and thus should only contain gold atoms. You could also argue that some subatomic particle is the smallest particle in gold.
Used by Rutherford in his experiment made of two protons and two neutrons are alpha particles. Rutherford discovered the nucleus using his gold foil experiment.
The smallest possible particle of gold that can exist is called a gold atom. Gold atoms are the basic units that make up gold and can exist on their own or be part of larger structures.
Correct, due to the massive size of the gold nucleus compared to the size of the incoming particle, the particle will not experience a large deflection in a head-on collision. This is because of the concentrated positive charge in a small space in the gold nucleus that causes a very strong Coulomb repulsion when the incoming particle gets close to it.
nucleus
The force of repulsion between the alpha particle and the gold nucleus can be calculated using Coulomb's law, given by F = k * (q1 * q2) / r^2, where k is the Coulomb constant, q1 and q2 are the charges of the particles, and r is the distance between them. Given the charges of an alpha particle and a gold nucleus, and the distance of 1pm, the force of repulsion can be calculated to be extremely large due to the proximity of the particles and the high charges involved.
The discovery of the atomic nucleus was made during the gold foil experiment by Ernest Rutherford in 1909. He observed that most of the alpha particles passed straight through the gold foil, indicating that atoms have a small, dense nucleus at their center.
An alpha particle is the nucleus of a Helium-4 atom; therefore, it has 2 neutrons and 2 protons. A gold atom has... well, much more protons and neutrons, you can look it up if you like. Also, a gold atom normally does have electrons, whereas an alpha particle is just the nucleus (i.e., no electrons). You decide for yourself how "similar" those two are.
A gold bar is made up of gold particles known as atoms. Gold is a metal with the chemical symbol Au and each gold atom contains 79 protons in its nucleus.
The smallest particle in gold should in fact be gold. Gold is an element, Au, and thus should only contain gold atoms. You could also argue that some subatomic particle is the smallest particle in gold.
Rutherford's gold foil experiment did not discover the existence of any subatomic particles, but it did show the existence of a small, tightly packed, positively charged nucleus and thus led to the discovery of protons.
Most alpha particles (a pair of protons and a pair of neutrons tied together by nuclear bonds - a helium nucleus) will pass right through the foil. But some will be deflected. That's because those alpha particles have electrostatically interacted with a gold atom nucleus. The gold nucleus is positively charged, and so is the alpha particle. And positive charges don't like each other. The interaction of the charges causes the alpha particles to be deflected if they approach the nucleus. If the alpha particle is on a trajectory that will take it very near (or right at) the nucleus, it will undergo proportionally more deflection, and could actually bounce back the way it came. (The technical term for this interaction is scattering.) This type of early experiment helped investigators determine that the atom had most of its mass concentrated in a nucleus. Before that, it was suspected that the particles that made up the atom were distributed within it in a "general" way. If that was true, the all the alpha particles that were shot at the foil would pass through and none would be deflected. But in the experiment, some were. Why? There must be something inside there that is big and bad and caused the alpha particles to bounce off of it. Oooo, snap! A nuclear atom with mass concentrated in the middle!
Used by Rutherford in his experiment made of two protons and two neutrons are alpha particles. Rutherford discovered the nucleus using his gold foil experiment.
a molecule
Alpha particle ie doubly ionized helium atom scattering by the gold foil experiment formed the basis for the discovery of nucleus. The experiment was done by Marsden and Geiger but the experimental observation was commented and final conclusion derived by Rutherford.