AISSCE

CAMBRIDGE COURT HIGH SCHOOL

2019-20

Investigatory project
Rutherford model of scattering

Submitted by: Submitted to:

NAME- Prabal Goyal S.P. Singh Sir
CLASS- XII
BOARD ROLL NO. -
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special gratitude to my
teacher Mr. S.P. Singh as well as our principal who gave
a golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the
topic RUTHERFORD MODEL OF SCATTERING
which helped me in doing a lot of research and I came to
know about so many new things and I am really
thankful to them.

I would also like to thank my parents and my friends

who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the
limited time frame.
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Prabal Goyal of class XII
C has successfully completed his study on the
topic RUTHERFORD MODEL OF
SCATTERING under the guidance of Mr. S.P.
Singh during the year 2019-20 in partial
fulfillment of physics practical examination as
a part of AISSCE conducted by CBSE.

Signature of external examiner Signature of

physics teacher
 ERNEST RUTHERFORD
• Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron
Rutherford of Nelson (30 August
1871 – 19 October 1937), was a
New Zealand physicist who came
to be known as the father
of nuclear physics.
• Rutherford aided professor Hans
Geiger in creating the Geiger
Counter, which detects alpha
particles.
• After determining the identity of
the alpha particles , Rutherford ,
Geiger and Marsden decided to test
how alpha particles interacted with
other elements. They tested this by
shooting alpha particles at a thin
gold foil.
• Rutherford was awarded the 1908
Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his
theory atomic structure.
 EARLY STRUTURE OF ATOM

• The structure of atom was first

given by plum pudding model of
J.J. Thomson before the
experiment of Ernest Rutherford.
• The plum pudding model
explained an atom as a positive
charged body which contains
small negatively charged
particles which are called
electrons.
• He also described that the
negative charge in atom is
balanced with the equal amount
of positive charge to maintain the
neutrality of atom.
 HOW WAS THE GOLD FOIL
EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED ?
• Ernest Rutherford’s research is based on the experiment with alpha
particles.
• Alpha particles are doubly charged helium atoms.
• He did bombardment of positive alpha particles on thin foil of gold ,
approximately 8.6 x 10 -6 centimeters thick . The alpha particles were
confined to a narrow beam by passing then through a lead sheet through
a slit.
• He took the observations on the screen of zinc sulphide which was
behind the gold foil.
• He took the observations on the screen of zinc sulphide which was behind
the gold foil.
• He observed the deflection of these bombarded alpha particles on the
photographic film.
• The whole experimental setup was placed in an evacuated chamber to
prevent scattering by the air molecules.
GOLD FOIL EXPEIMENT USING ALPHA PARTICLES

(SOURCE)
 OBSERVATIONS
• Before performing this experiment , it was assumed by Rutherford
that most of the alpha particles would pass through the gold foil with
less deflection. He assumed this on the basis of basis of theory
proposed by JJ Thomson which said that the negative charge in the
“plum pudding model” is widely spread.
• On bombarding the alpha particles, they were scattered in different
directions with different angles and were detected by fluorescent
rotatable detector which has a microscope and a screen coated with
zinc sulphide.
• After performing his experiment , he made the following
observations:
1. Almost all the alpha particles went straight through the foil.
2. Some alpha particles were deflected at large angles.
3. Very few of the alpha particles even bounced backwards or retraced
their path after hitting the gold foil.
 INFERENCES
On the basis of these observations Rutherford made the following
conclusions:
• Since most of the alpha particles passed straight through the gold
foil without any deflection , most of the space within the atoms is
empty.
• Some of the alpha particles were deflected by large angles since
they must have been repelled by a positive charge. It was
concluded that the volume occupied by the positive charge is very
small and concentrated at the center of the atom rather than being
distributed uniformly in it.
• One in ten thousands even bounced backwards as they
experienced head on collision with the positive charge at the
center of the gold atoms . From this , Rutherford inferred that the
majority of the mass too was concentrated in a central core.
 CONCLUSIONS
• An atom has a tiny positively charged core which
contains most of the mass over 99.9% of the mass of
the atom.
• The electrons revolve around the nucleus in circular
paths similar to the planets revolve around the Sun.
The electrostatic force of attraction between the
nucleus and electron provides centripetal force.
• The estimated radius of the nucleus is at least
1/100000 times than that of the radius of the atom.
• The amount of positive charge in the nucleus is equal
to the amount of negative charge on the electrons. So,
the atom as a whole is electrically neutral.
 DRAWBACKS
• According to classical electromagnetic theory, being a charged
particle , electron must emit energy when it is accelerated.
• Around the nucleus, the motion of electron is an accelerated
motion, hence it must radiate energy. But this does not happen in
actual practice.
• Assume that if it occurs, then due to continuous loss of energy,
orbit of electron must decrease continuously. As a result, electron
will fall into the nucleus eventually after some time. But this is
against the practical situation and hence this shows that atom is
unstable.
• If the electrons emit energy continuously, continuous spectrum
should be formed. But in practical, line spectrum is observed.