5.) In 1911, Ernest Rutherford and his assistants Hans Geigerand Ernest Marsden
ID: 1666585 • Letter: 5
Question
5.) In 1911, Ernest Rutherford and his assistants Hans Geigerand Ernest Marsden conducted an experiment in which they scatteredalpha particles from thin sheets of gold. An alpha particle, havingcharge +2e and mass 6.64 * 10-27 kg, is aproduct of certain radioactive decays. The results of theexperiment led Rutherford to the idea that most of the mass of anatom is in a very small nucleus, with electrons in orbit around it,in his planetary model of the atom. Assume that an alpha particle,initially very far from a gold nucleus, is fired with a velocity of1.9 * 107 m/s directlytoward the nucleus (charge +79e). How close does the alphaparticle get to the nucleus before turning around? Assume that thegold nucleus remains stationary.rmin = 1 m