Why did Rutherford select a gold foil in his -ray scattering experiment?
Answer:
A light metal cannot be used because on being hit by fast moving -particle, the atom of light metal will be simply pushed forward and no scattering can occur. Gold is heavy metal and for the scattering experiment, Rutherford wanted a metal sheet which could be as thin as possible. Gold is the most malleable of all known metals. It can easily be converted into very thin sheets. Hence, Rutherford selected a gold foil for his alpha-ray scattering experiment.