- #1
Jufa
- 101
- 15
- TL;DR Summary
- Why do we neglect defection due to electrons?
Here it goes. I'm reading some notes on the Rutherford (gold foil) experiment and they first state what one should expect if the atom model was like the one described by Thomson (plumb pudding model). In order to somehow predict what the deviation should be when throwing alpha particles towards the foil, the following considerations are commonly made:
-Only electrical force has to be taken into consideration when dealing with alpha particles and atoms interaction.
-The less concentrated is the positive charge the least will be the deviation experimented (that comes out from Coulomb's Law).
-Interaction between electrons can be neglected, since they MASS is known to be negligible.
I don't really understant what roll can mass play here. Indeed, if one assumes that electrons are smaller than the positive charge, it should be its interaction the most strong one, since electric field on its surface would be higher than on the positive charge's.
-Only electrical force has to be taken into consideration when dealing with alpha particles and atoms interaction.
-The less concentrated is the positive charge the least will be the deviation experimented (that comes out from Coulomb's Law).
-Interaction between electrons can be neglected, since they MASS is known to be negligible.
I don't really understant what roll can mass play here. Indeed, if one assumes that electrons are smaller than the positive charge, it should be its interaction the most strong one, since electric field on its surface would be higher than on the positive charge's.