Question

Ernest Rutherford fired tiny positively charged particles at thin gold foil.
a. Explain why most of the tiny particles travelled straight to the gold foil.
b. Explain why a few particles bounced backwards off the foil.
(quick please)​

Answer 1

Answer:

a) In Rutherford's gold foil experiment, the particles of which most passed straight through the gold foil were alpha particles, which are positively charged. The few alpha particles that were deflected back or to one side were being repelled by nuclei, which are also positively charged.

b)There is a concentration of positive charge in the atom. Like charges repel, so the positive alpha particles were being repelled by positive charges. A very small number of alpha particles came straight back off

Answer 2

Answer:

a. Because most of the space inside the atom is empty. So most of the particles went undeflected.

b. Fewer particles bounced backward because of the nucleus present at the centre. This nucleus was positively charged (alpha particle is also positively charged) and it is very small compared to the total space in the atom. So there were few deflections.

Backward deflections were very few because only for some of the alpha particles the velocity vector of alpha particle at a distance and the nucleus lie on the same line.