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In what way did Rutherford’s gold-foil scattering
Chapter 34, Problem 23TAE(choose chapter or problem)
In what way did Rutherford’s gold-foil scattering experiment show that the atomic nucleus is both small and very massive?
Questions & Answers
QUESTION:
In what way did Rutherford’s gold-foil scattering experiment show that the atomic nucleus is both small and very massive?
ANSWER:Step 1 of 3
Rutherford, in gold-foil experiment, showed that the atomic nucleus is small by observing the fact that small amount of alpha particles were actually scattered and were scattered through a big scattering angle (if the nucleus were bigger, the bigger number of alpha particles would be scattered since there would be higher probability of hitting the nucleus and also the scattering angle would be smaller since the radius of curvature of the target would be bigger).