Tag: gold foil

Today in Chemistry History – Ernest Rutherford’s Birthday

Today in Chemistry History: Ernest Rutherford's birthday. Shows a picture of Rutherford with a short bio: he won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on radioactivity, naming alpha and beta radiation. He also developed the Rutherford model of the atom. A diagram shows his famous gold foil experiment, in which alpha particles were fired at thin metal foils. Most passed through the foil but a small number were deflected back at a large angle. This showed that the positively charged protons are concentrated in the nucleus of the atom.
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Today, 30 August, marks the birthday of Ernest Rutherford. Rutherford is primarily considered a physicist, but his contribution to our understanding of the atom is also important to chemistry. He was also a chemistry Nobel Prize winner, for his work on radioactivity. This graphic looks in detail at one of his most famous experiments, the gold foil experiment which is often name-dropped in school science lessons!

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