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Schematic visualization of a negative charge (blue sphere) interacting with the Coulomb potential (yellow surface) generated by a point positive charge, for 4 different distances of the initial trajectory from the nucleus. If the distance is moderately high, there is little to no deflection. But if the distance is small, large deflections are possible.

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Schematic visualization of a negative charge (blue sphere) interacting with the Coulomb potential (yellow surface) generated by a point positive charge, for 4 different distances of the initial trajectory from the nucleus. If the distance is moderately high, there is little to no deflection. But if the distance is small, large deflections are possible.

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j_bertolotti@mathstodon.xyz's status on Tuesday, 14-Feb-2023 10:38:21 CET j_bertolotti

#PhysicsFactlet
Rutherford scattering: At the beginning of the XX century it was accepted that atoms were a thing, but what an atom looked like was still an open question. An important piece of this puzzle was the realization that, if you shoot charged particles at a thin piece of material, most of them passed through with little to no deflection, but a few were scattered at very high angles, suggesting atoms' positive charge is concentrated in a small volume.
#Physics #Visualization

In conversation Tuesday, 14-Feb-2023 10:38:21 CET from mathstodon.xyz permalink

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