What errors did Rutherford encounter in his experiment

[zakthrowaiz]

Homework Statement

What errors did Rutherford encounter in his experiment and how did he account for them.

Homework Equations

I believe there is an equation to find (b) but I don't know what it is.

 

[QuantumQuest]

Homework Statement

What errors did Rutherford encounter in his experiment and how did he account for them.

Homework Equations

I believe there is an equation to find (b) but I don't know what it is.

Do you mean errors according to what was believed back then? Have you read about the experiment?

 

[zakthrowaiz]

I have read about the experiment and I know its results; majority of the particles passed through, some deflected back, 1/12000 deflected back <90 degrees etc. I was told to speak about errors that occurred that could effect the result.

 

[QuantumQuest]

I was told to speak about errors that occurred that could effect the result.

Talking in general, experimental errors fall into two types: random errors and systematic errors.
Random errors may arise due to several causes e.g. observation or reading errors (for instance the flickering needle on an analog meter) or environmental causes like some fluctuation in the temperature of a room.
Systematic errors may also arise due to several causes, like an instrument error (e.g. poor calibration), reading error or if the whole experiment has a poor design, just to name a few.

Now, for the specific Rutherford's experiment, it has been done a lot of times as a part of an undergraduate lab and as far as I know, the results has been consistent and accurate enough with the original one. Rutherford himself has a famous quotation about accuracy "If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment". Of course in every and each experiment errors occur and in order to identify them you have to search for factors in the above mentioned two categories.