Practice question
Question
In Rutherford’s scattering experiment, what fraction of alpha-particles scatter by more than 90° out of
8000 incident particles?
Explanation
**Thomson's plum pudding model** positive charge uniformly distributed in sphere with electrons embedded, positive charge spread, fails to explain large angle scattering observed. Bohr's model introduces stationary orbits with quantized angular momentum L = n h/2π, physical basis de Broglie standing wave condition 2πr = n λ, circumference fits n wavelengths, explains line spectrum. Given: 1 in 8000 alpha-particles deflect by more than 90°. Fraction = (1/8000) = 0.000125 . Using E_n = -13.6/n² eV, r_n = n² a₀, L = n h/2π, R = R₀ A^¹/³, BE = Δm c² and 1 u = 931.5 MeV, evaluation yields 0.000125, consistent with Bohr model and nuclear binding energy systematics.
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