Question

why did rutherford selected gold foil and alpha particles for the experiment??

Answer 1

• Gold was used by Rutherford in the alpha particle experiment as it is highly malleable. As the alpha particles are heavy, therefore their penetrating power is less. Hence to observe the results of the experiment a very thin sheet of metal was required and gold was chosen because it can be hammered into very thin sheets.

• In Rutherford's experiment, alpha particles are used because:

1. Theses particles are heavy particles.

2. They have very low penetration energy, and due to the thin gold foil is used and to penetrate that gold foil, alpha particles were used.

3. They have small size.