In Rutherford's experiment, generally thin foils of heavy atoms like gold, platinum etc. have been used to be bombarded by the alpha-particles. If the thin foil of light atoms like aluminium etc. is used, what difference would be observed from the above results?

In Rutherford's experiment, generally thin foils of heavy atoms like g

1.	In Rutherford's experiment, generally thin foils of heavy atoms like gold, platinum etc. have been used to be bombarded by the alpha-particles. If the thin foil of light atoms like aluminium etc. is used, what difference would be observed from the above results?
Answer» Solution :Heavy atoms have a heavy nucleus carrying a large AMOUNT of positive charge. Hence, some `alpha-`PARTICLES are easily DEFLECTED BACK on hitting the nucleus. ALSO a number of `alpha`-particles are deflected through small angles because of large positive charge on the nucleus. If light atoms are used, their nuclei will be light and moreover, they will have small positive charge on the nucleus. Hence, the number of particles deflected back and those deflected through some angle will be negligible