in 1992, Rutherford shot a beam of positively charged alpha partiles into a sheet of gold. some deflected greatly while other were slightly deflected only.
d) if rutherford were design the experiment using lithium instead of gold, would he have made the same discovery? explain your answer
if he changes it to lithium, wouldnt there be no change as the nucleus would just be more "squeezed" together since in a metallic bond there would just be a sea of electron? so the deflection would be the same? This question seems to be of a higher level question, it seems like there are many theories to the answer for this question which makes this question extremely complicated for a sec 3 student
My sister thinks there is no difference too:
"I originally thought with lithium, there would be more particles going
through, due to the larger atomic radius/space between each nucleus.
However, my tuition teacher says there would be greater deflection for
gold, due to the greater number of protons in each nucleus (and
therefore greater charge and greater repulsion between the protons and
alpha particles). While I can accept that the angle of deflection when
using gold may be greater because the nucleus of gold has a greater
charge, wouldn't the ratio of deflected particles to particles that go
through be the same since that is merely dependent on the ratio of
"space taken up by the nucleus" versus "empty space"? So even though the
nucleus of gold is bigger, at the same time the spaces in between are
also greater, so overall there would be the same amount of deflection vs
particles going through for both?"
Firstly, in atomic structure we only learnt about electrons, protons and neutrons, not to mention nucleon. but that does not prepare us for this complicated question at all! so im quite worried that these types of questions will be tested for my EOYs or O levels in the upcoming levels. i asked my tutor and it seemed like it was extremely complicated even for him. so if its possible could any of u guys help me check if this is O level standard cos this seems to be of a "higher level" thanks so much for the help
BTW, if its an O level standard question pls explain the reasons behind the answer so that ill be able to understand this well. thanks so much for the help given. Also if a question like this were to come out in a test or exam pls state on how to tackle it thanks. :)
Originally posted by SgStudentStressed:... of gold, would he have made the same discovery? explain your answer if he changes it to lithium, wouldnt there be no change as the nucleus would just be more "squeezed" together since in a metallic ...
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