Episode 520: Preparation for Rutherford Scattering Topic

Produced by the Institute of Physics, this topic looks at Rutherford's experiments on scattering and how this leads to the nuclear model. The activities deepen their understanding by making use of ideas about electric fields. Students will be familiar with the nuclear model of the atom, in which the atom is pictured as a miniature solar system. They may have been introduced to Rutherford scattering and how this leads to the nuclear model. These activities give the opportunity to deepen students' understanding, making use of ideas about electric fields. It can be used to introduce other evidence about the size of the nucleus.

The learning episodes in this topic are:

Episode 521: Rutherford’s experiment

Episode 522: The size of the nucleus

Following completion, students should be able to:

1. describe Rutherford’s experiment and explain why it leads to the nuclear model of the atom

2. use Coulomb’s law to estimate the size of the nucleus

3. state the approximate sizes of atom and nucleus.