1909

Gold Foil Experiment




The gold foil experiment was an experiment that was supposed to help scientists learn more about alpha particles. In this experiment however the scientists wanted to measured the deflection of alpha particles directed onto a thin gold foil. It was hope that the particulars would be deflected by just a few degrees. Particles were radioactive when they were fired through the minutely thin metal foils. The particles were to be detected by using screens coated with zinc sulfide also known as a scintillator.
The experiment was directed by Ernest Rutherford and conducted by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marasdan in 1919 after the conclusion of the gold fold experiment. Rutherford found that although the vast majority of particles passed straight through the foil, approximately 1 in 8000 were defected leading him to the theory that most of the atom was made up of empty space. The reason why the particles were defected was because there was a very small positive charge which could repel the alpha particles if they came close enough. In 1911 Rutherford made a model of the atom which he named after himself.