Rutherford having decided to probe the forces acting within an atom by firing alpha particles through a target of thin foil, suggested to his collaborators Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden to carry out the experiment. Alpha particles nuclei of helium atoms are 7300 times more massive than electron and carry a charge of +2e. Their model shows schematically the arrangement used by Geiger and Marsden.
They observed that while most of the alpha particles passed through with little or no deflection some were scattered by larger angle and a few were even backing scattered. Rutherford was so surprised by the result and in his words; It was quite the most incredible event that ever happened to me in my life. It was almost as incredible as if you had fired a 15 niche shell at a piece of tissue paper and it come back and hit you.
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