Question
Answer the following questions, which help you understand the difference between Thomson's model and Rutherford's model better.
Keeping other factors fixed, it is found experimentally that for small thickness t, the number of α-particles scattered at moderate angles is proportional to t. What clue does this linear dependence on t provide?
Solution
It suggests that scattering is predominantly due to a single collision, because the chance of a single collision increases linearly with the number of target atoms, and hence linearly with the thickness of the foil.
