Material Detail

Rutherford Roller

In this activity, learners make a black box device that serves as an excellent analogy to Rutherford's famous experiment in which he deduced the existence of the atomic nucleus. Learners roll marbles under a sheet of cardboard to find the location and shape of an object hidden underneath. This resource also contains an optional pre-activity that familiarizes learners with how marbles roll and bounce off of other objects....

Keywords:: Plane Geometry, Elementary Particles and Nuclear Physics, Problem Solving, Structure and Properties of Matter, NSDL, Reasoning and Proof, Probability, Black Box, Representation, Gold Foil, Atom, Physics, Conducting Investigations, Geometry, Chemistry, General, Data Representation, Data Analysis, Angles of Reflection, Materials Science, Scatter, Nucleus, Life Science, Physical Science, Atomic Structure, Mathematics, Motion and Forces, Nuclei, Atomic, Data Collection, Marbles, Gathering Data, Engineering, General Science, Technology, Rutherford, Alpha Particles, Data Analysis and Probability, Education, Vector