Question

What is the source of alpha particles in Rutherford's scattering experiment?

Answer 1

1. The Rutherford's gold foil experiment is a crucial experiment in the history of chemical discoveries which resulted in the determination of atomic structure of elements.
2. He bombarded a thin gold foil with alpha particles coming from a radioactive source that showed deflection in the trajectory of the particles thus inferring the presence of dense nucleus inside the atoms.
3. These alpha particles were sourced from Radium.