why Rutherford selected gold foil for his experiment???
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The use of gold had nothing to do with its reactivity, any more than the experiment had any connection to chemistry. Rutherford wanted to fire alpha particles through the foil. Alpha particles are not very penetrating; a sheet of notepaper will stop most of them. To achieve reasonable percentage of penetration the foil needed to be really thin. Gold is highly malleable; gold leaf can be made in thickness around 100nm or 4 micro-inch. It was the best material for the job.
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1.IT IS USED BECAUSE IT IS GOLD WAS KNOWN TO BE INERT ELEMENT.
RUTHERFORD WANTED TO FIRE THE ALPHA PARTICLE,FOR EXAMPLE NOTE PAPER IS USED IT WOULD BE FAILED TO PENETRATE THE ALPHA PARTICLE THROUGH IT.BUT GOLD FOIL IS MALLABLE,GOLD CAN BE MADE IN THICKNESS AROUND 100nm or 4 micro inch
RUTHERFORD WANTED TO FIRE THE ALPHA PARTICLE,FOR EXAMPLE NOTE PAPER IS USED IT WOULD BE FAILED TO PENETRATE THE ALPHA PARTICLE THROUGH IT.BUT GOLD FOIL IS MALLABLE,GOLD CAN BE MADE IN THICKNESS AROUND 100nm or 4 micro inch
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