Sub Thin
What devices are used to fire and obsereve-atomic particles sub?
When you read a sentence like ... "Rutherford alpha particle fired at a thin foil of gold "...... (1) how did the fire ...... and (2) How did they observe?
Well, there are two ways to make alpha particles. It is the band electrons of helium by heating. But the simplest is to take a radioactive source that emits alpha particles (like plutonium) and just put next to your gold leaf. Radioactive sources are constantly emitting radiation all directions. To observe the alpha particles, you need something that can be detected. You can use something like a Geiger-cons, but the simplest is to simply use the photo film. Photography uses molecules that are easily destroyed. When something like light or particle radiation hits of the molecule, it destroys or changes it. By spreading a thin layer of this molecule on a slide or a piece of paper, then exposing the molecule to radiation, the places that you hit with the radiation will be changed or destroyed molecule. You can then make a chemical that causes either the original molecule or molecular change (but not both) to change color. This gives you a clear picture of what areas were hit with radiation and what areas did not. If the radiation is born in thy light hitting your mother, you have a nice picture of your mother. If the cancellation was alpha particles coming off a piece of plutonium and passing through a sheet of gold, then you are Rutherford.