In 1911, the physicist Ernest Rutherford discovered that atoms have a tiny, dense nucleus by shooting pisitively charged particular at a very thin gold foil. A key physical property which led Rutherford to use gold that it was
A
Electrically conducting
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B
Highly malleable
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C
Shiny
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D
none-rective
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Solution
The correct option is B Highly malleable B
Rutherford used gold for his scattering experiment because gold is the most malleable metal and he wanted the thinnest layer possible. The goldsheet used was around 1000 atoms thick. Therefore Rutherford selected gold foil in his alpha scattering experiment.