Hey Future Physicist! Ready to dive into the world of nuclear physics? 🎉 Grab your lab coat (or comfy blanket) and let's explore the mysteries of the universe! 🌌

• Experiment: Geiger–Marsden–Rutherford.
  • Aim? They shot alpha particles at metals like gold and aluminium.
  • Expectation? Alpha particles should scatter in a predictable pattern using the Coulomb law.

Formula Alert! 🚨 ∝1sin⁡4(2)N∝sin4(2ϕ​)1​ Here, N is the number of alpha particles scattered at an angle ϕ.

Fun Fact 🍎: If Coulomb's law is correct, ×sin⁡4(/2)N×sin4(ϕ/2) should stay the same!

But, Oops... 🙈
 

Rutherford saw deviations when

• Using aluminium (it's got a tinier nuclear charge than gold).
• Alpha particles got super close to aluminium's nucleus.
• Result? Enter the strong nuclear force! It's like the bodyguard pushing away intruders when they get too close.

Figure 11:

• For alpha energies up to 28MeV: Everything goes as Rutherford predicted.
• Beyond 28MeV? 📉 The numbers drop rapidly. Why? That strong nuclear force is at play again!

• Late 1960s: Electrons shot towards nuclei in fancy machines called particle accelerators.
  • Cool Effect? Electrons can be diffracted (bent) by nuclei because of their wave-like nature.

Another Formula Alert! 🚨

θ ≈ λ × b

Here, θ = diffraction angle, λ = electron's de Broglie wavelength, and b = nucleus diameter.

But wait... as electron energy goes up, some weird stuff happens:

• Elastic Scattering: No energy is lost and helps figure out the nucleus size.
• Inelastic Scattering: Things get messy. Electrons, not being affected by the strong nuclear force, start interacting with protons' insides.