Mohammed Abdul- Wahid Rahman

Geiger–Marsden experiment
In this essay I will be discussing the how the scientist Rutherford discovered the
constituents of a nucleus of an atom with his experiment. Ernest Rutherford was a nuclear
physicist in the early 1900’s. His discovery allowed scientists to have more of an accurate
approximation on the structure of atom. Many other previous hypotheses were abrogated
after the conclusions were published. For example the plum pudding model which stated
that the nucleus consisted of electrons in a bed of positive charge to make it equilibrium.

The experiment:

At Rutherford era the three types of radiation (alpha, beta and gamma) were known as
well as the motion and charge. Beta radiation (β) wouldn’t be as effective to use in the
experiment because it has a small size and doesn’t have a straight path way. Gamma (γ) is
just a wave; therefore it would have an effect on the sheet.

Rutherford had an alpha source with a long half-life otherwise the readings decrease over
time since the radioactive decay of the element. A narrow ray of alpha particles were shot
through a suspended thin gold sheet. The alpha rays were made to have the same kinetic
energy because slower alpha particles will be deflected more than the faster particles in
the same path. Natural sources alpha particles have a range of kinetic energies. Some
particles have a 4 cm distance other alpha particles differ.

The sheet of metal and the alpha source were placed in a vacuum container so the
background radiation is zero. This would allow no other radiation to effect the metal sheet
in addition the sheet was thin because they can ionize with paper. Also alpha particles are
very strong ionizers so they would ionize the air straightaway.

The alpha radiation is used in this experiment because out of the 3 radiations it is
massive. It has a nucleus of 2 protons and 2 neutrons. When the alpha particles contacted
the sheet of metal; Rutherford was able to see the light emitted from the particle with a
fluorescent screen. The alpha particles were recorded by a detector every minute.
Rutherford used different angles of deflection to see the particles after contact.

Results:
Mohammed Abdul- Wahid Rahman

 Most α particles that contacted the sheet carried on with the same initial path and
didn’t deflect from the gold. However a small percentage was deflected.

 Some of the deflected particles (0.01 %) had an angle more than 90 degrees.

Conclusions:

These results show that something must have deflected the helium atom from inside the
gold nucleus. Rutherford claimed from this experiment that a nucleus must have a region
where it has a concentrated mass. The nucleus has to be positive or it would not be repel
the particles and that the alpha particles didn’t reach the range of the strong nuclear force.

If an alpha particle collided with a nucleus straight on it would be ricocheted nearly 180
degrees. Also greater deflection of α particles shows that there is a repulsion force
(electrostatic force) between the alpha and the nucleus that increases as the distance
decreases. The charge and mass effect how it will be deflected.

Coulombs law:

For 2 point charges at a distance of r, the force between the charges is:

F = Q1 Q2 /4πr2є0

Q1 Q2 are the charges of the α particle (+2) and the charge of the inside of the nucleus. As
the distance decreases when the particles collide the force increases. Because force is
proportional to 1/r2. Therefore if the α particles are deflected and the force increases
rapidly due to the decrease in separation the charge of the nucleus has to be positive to
repel and have a high mass to knock the alpha particles.