Background Correction in Rutherford Scattering Apparatus

[beanryu]

Hi guys,
Do you know what is meant by background correction in an Rutherford scattering apparatus.

i can't even start doing it because i don't know what is a background correction, is it the average count / area of alpha particles on a detector?

 

[Meir Achuz]

The background correction usually refers to subtracting the number of counts you observe with no incident alphas. These are "background" counts that have nothing to do with the measurement.