Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment: Revealing the Secrets of Atomic Structure

[Kehsibashok]

everyone of us know that rutherford gave his own atomic model from the results of gold foil scattering experiment.
my doubt is ,

1.how was he able to see the alpha particles deflected ? (important doubt )
2.does alpha-decay happened to emit alpha particles in the radium he took ?

 

[jtbell]

1.how was he able to see the alpha particles deflected ? (important doubt )

From the Wikipedia article about the experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger%E2%80%93Marsden_experiment):

A zinc sulfide screen at the focus of a microscope was used as a detector; the screen and microscope could be swivelled around the foil to observe particles deflected at any given angle.

When an alpha particle hit the screen, it produced a small flash of light.

2.does alpha-decay happened to emit alpha particles in the radium he took ?

Can you re-phrase your question? It's not clear to me what you're asking.

 

[256bits]

Kehsibashok,
If you would have done some research you could have found the answer

here is the experiment
http://library.thinkquest.org/19662/low/eng/exp-rutherford.html

here is the list of Polonium isotopes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_polonium

 

[Kehsibashok]

Thanks a lot :)

When an alpha particle hit the screen, it produced a small flash of light.



Can you re-phrase your question? It's not clear to me what you're asking.

sure .. rutherford used radium which emitted the alpha particles ( right ? ) . then , how does the alpha particles emitted ? does they emitted by radioactivity ( alpha-decay) ?

thanks in advance :)

 

[Kehsibashok]

Kehsibashok,
If you would have done some research you could have found the answer

here is the experiment
http://library.thinkquest.org/19662/low/eng/exp-rutherford.html

here is the list of Polonium isotopes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_polonium

the first link is very helpful :) what is the second link for ?

i will read the details in first link in coming saturday and reply you :) thanksssss a lot ;)

 

[jtbell]

sure .. rutherford used radium which emitted the alpha particles ( right ? ) .

I don't know whether he used radium or something else. To find out, I'd have to do a Google search on something like "rutherford experiment alpha source" and hope that it leads me to a detailed description of Rutherford's apparatus beyond what's in Wikipedia. But you can just as well do that search yourself.

how does the alpha particles emitted ? does they emitted by radioactivity ( alpha-decay) ?

It might depend on what the source material actually was (radium or something else). However, the only processes I know that emit alpha particles are alpha decay and some nuclear fission reactions. I doubt Rutherford used a fission reaction.