answersLogoWhite

0

Actually, it was two students of Rutherford who made this discovery. Ernest Marsden, and Hans Geiger, both of whom went on to better things later in life. For their experiments, they had to sit in a darkened room till their eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and the they fired their particles at a gold foil, their target. The diffraction was recorded on the far side when the particles hit a ZnS screen, which fluoresced briefly. It was their idea to erect the detector screen towards the near side of the target, and observed the reflected particles. It was a few weeks before Rutherford actually saw their results, and was amazed by what he saw. As to the numbers, that merely came out of the mass of data.

User Avatar

Wiki User

14y ago

What else can I help you with?

Continue Learning about Natural Sciences
Related Questions

Who discover alpha particles?

Ernest Rutherford and Paul Villard discovered alpha particles in the period 1899 to 1900, by classifying radiation into three types, alpha, beta, and gamma. Ernest Rutherford and Thomas Royds subsequently proved, in 1907, that alpha particles were helium ions.


When positively charged particles bounced back from the foil Rutherford called this?

Rutherford called this phenomenon the "scattering of alpha particles" which was a key observation that led to the development of the nuclear model of the atom.


The kind of particle Rutherford used to shoot through gold foil?

Rutherford shot high-energy alpha particles (two protons and two neutrons, or a helium nucleus) at the gold foil. A small fraction of these alpha particles bounced back, and that is how Rutherford discovered the nucleus.


Which type of particles did Rutherford fire at gold foil?

Rutherford fired alpha particles at the gold foil during his famous gold foil experiment. These alpha particles were positively charged and were emitted from radioactive elements.


In Rutherford's gold foil experiment what particles were fired at a thin piece of gold?

I believe they are called the Alpha particles and yes, they did pass through a sheet of gold foil.


What are the 3 types of radioactivity discovered by Rutherford?

The three types of radioactivity discovered by Rutherford are alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays. Alpha particles are positively charged, beta particles are electrons or positrons, and gamma rays are high-energy electromagnetic radiation.


Do the alpha particles in Rutherford's experiment contain electrons?

No, alpha particles are helium nuclei made up of two protons and two neutrons, with no electrons. In Rutherford's experiment, alpha particles were used to probe the structure of atoms by scattering off the positive nucleus, helping to reveal the atom's structure.


When Rutherford performed his metal foil experiment did the alpha particles pass straight through the foil or bounce back?

In Rutherford's metal foil experiment, some alpha particles passed straight through the foil, while others were deflected at various angles. A small fraction of the alpha particles even bounced back towards the source. This led Rutherford to conclude that atoms have a small, dense nucleus at their center.


How is the Rutherford Experiment Done?

To do the Rutherford Experiment, you have to shoot alpha particles at gold foil to and see where the particles pass through and where they do not. This will give you a general idea of what Rutherford did to discover the nucleus of an atom. However, alpha particles are very hard to come upon, as they are the nucleus of Carbon. Rutherford knew that alpha particles are about 7000 times more massive than electrons and are positively charged and the charge is twice the magnitude of the charge of electrons.when Rutherford directed a beam of alpha particles at a thin gold foil,he found that almost all particles passed through it without deflecting.A very small were deflected at an angle, however, and a few actually bounded back toward the particle source.


Who helped establish the organization of the atom through experimentation with alpha particles?

Ernest Rutherford


What did Rutherford call the region that deflected the alpha particles?

Rutherford called the region in the gold foil experiment that deflected alpha particles the "nucleus." He discovered that the positive charge and most of the mass of an atom were concentrated in this small, dense region.


Who was the scientist who showed that alpha particles are helium nuclei?

Ernest Rutherford discovered that alpha particles are helium nuclei during his famous gold foil experiment in 1909. This experiment provided evidence for the existence of a dense, positively charged atomic nucleus.