How did Rutherford discover the atomic nucleus 100 years ago?

FloatHeadPhysics
28 Sept 202320:18

Summary

TLDRThe video delves into the fascinating history of atomic theory, starting with J.J. Thomson’s 1897 discovery of the electron, leading to the development of the plum pudding model. Rutherford's groundbreaking gold foil experiment in 1911 disproved this model, unveiling the existence of the atomic nucleus and laying the foundation for the planetary model of the atom. The shocking realization is that atoms are 99.9999% empty space, yet we still experience solid matter. This video promises further exploration into quantum physics to answer why empty matter behaves solidly, sparking curiosity about the nature of reality.

Takeaways

  • 😀 **Atoms were once thought to be indivisible.** Before 1897, it was believed that atoms were the most fundamental particles, incapable of being divided.
  • 🔬 **The discovery of the electron changed atomic theory.** JJ Thomson discovered the electron, a negatively charged particle smaller than the atom, leading to a new understanding of atomic structure.
  • 🧁 **Thomson's plum pudding model.** Thomson proposed that atoms consist of a positive charge spread throughout, with electrons (like 'plums') embedded inside to balance the charge.
  • 🎯 **Rutherford tests the plum pudding model.** Rutherford set up an experiment using alpha particles to shoot at a thin gold foil to test the structure of the atom.
  • ⚛️ **The gold foil experiment revealed surprising results.** Most alpha particles passed through, but some were deflected, suggesting the existence of a small, dense, positively charged center (nucleus).
  • 💥 **The plum pudding model was discarded.** The unexpected deflection of alpha particles led to the rejection of Thomson’s model, as it couldn't explain the strong force needed to deflect them.
  • 🌞 **The planetary model of the atom.** Rutherford proposed that atoms have a dense nucleus with electrons orbiting around it, similar to how planets orbit the Sun.
  • ⚡ **The atom is mostly empty space.** The nucleus is incredibly small compared to the overall size of the atom, meaning most of the atom is empty, with 99.9999999% of it being space.
  • 🤯 **Why don't we pass through walls?** Even though atoms are mostly empty space, electromagnetic forces between electrons prevent us from passing through solid objects.
  • 🔮 **Further exploration needed.** The script teases that understanding why hands don't pass through each other involves more advanced quantum physics, hinting at future discussions.

Q & A

  • What did JJ Thomson discover in 1897, and why was it significant?

    -In 1897, JJ Thomson discovered the electron, a negatively charged particle much smaller than the atom. This was significant because it showed that atoms were not indivisible, as previously believed, and it opened up a new field of research into atomic structure.

  • What was Thomson's Plum Pudding Model of the atom?

    -Thomson's Plum Pudding Model proposed that the atom is made of a positively charged 'pudding' with negatively charged electrons embedded within it, like plums in a pudding. This model aimed to explain how atoms remain neutral and stable.

  • What experiment did Ernest Rutherford conduct to test the Plum Pudding Model?

    -Ernest Rutherford conducted the gold foil experiment. He shot positively charged alpha particles at a thin gold foil to see if they passed through as predicted by the Plum Pudding Model. This was meant to test whether the atom's positive and negative charges were distributed evenly.

  • What unexpected results did Rutherford observe in his experiment?

    -Rutherford observed that while most alpha particles passed straight through the foil, some were deflected at large angles, and a few even bounced back. This was shocking because it suggested that the positive charge in atoms was not spread out but concentrated in a small region.

  • What conclusion did Rutherford draw from the gold foil experiment?

    -Rutherford concluded that the positive charge in an atom is concentrated in a very small, dense region, which he called the nucleus. This led to the rejection of the Plum Pudding Model and the proposal of the nuclear model of the atom, where electrons orbit around the dense, positively charged nucleus.

  • How much smaller is the nucleus compared to the atom as a whole?

    -Rutherford's calculations showed that the nucleus is about 100,000 times smaller than the entire atom. If the nucleus were the size of a grain of sand, the atom would be the size of a cricket stadium, indicating that most of the atom is empty space.

  • If atoms are mostly empty space, why don't objects pass through each other?

    -Although atoms are mostly empty space, objects don't pass through each other because of the electromagnetic forces between the atoms. Electrons in atoms repel each other, preventing physical matter from collapsing or passing through.

  • What major flaw did Rutherford’s model of the atom have?

    -Rutherford’s planetary model, where electrons orbit the nucleus like planets around the sun, had a flaw. According to classical physics, orbiting electrons would lose energy over time and spiral into the nucleus, causing the atom to collapse. This inconsistency required further refinement of atomic theory.

  • How did the discovery of the electron change the understanding of atomic neutrality?

    -The discovery of the electron, a negatively charged particle, led to the understanding that atoms must contain an equal amount of positive charge to balance the electrons and make the atom neutral. This realization prompted new models of atomic structure.

  • Why was the gold foil used in Rutherford's experiment, and what were the properties of gold that made it suitable?

    -Gold was used in the experiment because it is highly malleable, meaning it can be hammered into extremely thin sheets, which allowed Rutherford to create a target just a few hundred atoms thick. This thinness was crucial for testing how alpha particles interacted with individual atoms.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 The Question of Why We Can't Walk Through Walls

The narrator begins by posing a seemingly silly question: why can’t we walk through walls or pass one hand through the other? The video sets up the importance of understanding the 1911 discovery in physics, which is not covered in textbooks, to explain this. The video promises to take viewers back in time to uncover the true nature of matter and atomic structure.

05:01

🔍 The Discovery of the Electron and the First Atomic Model

The video takes us back to a typical physics class in 1897, where atoms were considered indivisible. However, J.J. Thomson’s discovery of the electron, a negatively charged particle smaller than the atom, radically changed this view. The atom was now understood to have both negative and positive charges, raising the question of how these forces were arranged within the atom. The video introduces the first atomic model: Thomson's Plum Pudding Model, where electrons are embedded within a positively charged 'pudding'.

10:02

🎯 Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment Setup

Ernest Rutherford, one of Thomson’s students, took on the challenge of testing the Plum Pudding Model. Rutherford's experiment involved shooting positively charged 'bullets' (alpha particles) at atoms, predicting that they would pass straight through based on Thomson's model. To test this, Rutherford used a thin sheet of gold foil as a target, which was only a few hundred atoms thick. A detector coated with zinc sulfide was built to observe whether the alpha particles would go through or be deflected.

15:02

🚨 A Surprising Result: Alpha Particles Deflected

Rutherford and his team expected all the alpha particles to pass straight through the gold foil, but they were shocked to observe some particles being deflected at large angles. This unexpected result led to the realization that something massive and highly charged existed within the atom. Rutherford concluded that the Plum Pudding Model was incorrect, and the atomic structure needed to be reimagined. The deflection suggested a powerful force that the distributed positive charge of Thomson's model couldn't explain.

20:04

💡 The Birth of the Nuclear Model

Rutherford concluded that all the positive charge and most of the mass of an atom were concentrated in a very small, dense nucleus at the center, with electrons orbiting around it. This was the birth of the planetary or nuclear model of the atom. The video explains how this model fit the experimental data, as most alpha particles passed through the atom undisturbed, while a few were deflected by the dense nucleus. This 1911 discovery marked the end of the Plum Pudding Model and opened up a new understanding of atomic structure.

😲 The Shocking Truth: Atoms Are Mostly Empty Space

Rutherford’s discovery revealed that the nucleus is incredibly small compared to the size of the atom, making the atom mostly empty space. To put it in perspective, if the nucleus were the size of a grain of sand, the atom would be the size of a cricket stadium. This means that atoms, and therefore everything around us—including our own bodies—are made up almost entirely of empty space. The narrator returns to the original question of why solid objects like hands or walls don’t pass through each other, hinting that this will be explored further in the next video.

📘 Conclusion and a Tease for Future Topics

The video concludes by emphasizing the importance of asking the right questions in science, even if the answers aren’t immediately clear. The narrator suggests that further developments in atomic theory, including quantum mechanics, are needed to fully answer why we can’t pass through solid objects. The narrator invites viewers to engage with the content and express interest in future videos covering topics like quantum physics and relativity.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Atom

An atom is the basic unit of matter, composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. In the video, atoms are initially described as the smallest, indivisible particles in the universe. The script discusses the evolution of this concept, from being thought of as indivisible to discovering that atoms have internal structures, including electrons, which revolutionized our understanding of atomic physics.

💡Electron

Electrons are negatively charged particles discovered by JJ Thomson in 1897, which are much smaller than atoms. This discovery proved that atoms were not the smallest particles and had internal components, fundamentally changing the understanding of atomic structure. The video emphasizes the significance of the electron's discovery in challenging the existing model of atoms as indivisible units.

💡Plum Pudding Model

The Plum Pudding Model, proposed by JJ Thomson, suggested that atoms are made of a positively charged 'pudding' with negatively charged electrons scattered throughout, like plums in a pudding. This model was the first attempt to describe atomic structure after the discovery of the electron, but it was later disproven by Rutherford's experiments, as discussed in the video.

💡Rutherford's Experiment

Rutherford's experiment involved firing alpha particles at a thin gold foil to test the Plum Pudding Model. The experiment revealed that some particles were deflected at large angles, suggesting the presence of a dense, positively charged nucleus at the center of the atom, leading to the planetary model of the atom. This experiment was pivotal in demonstrating that atoms are mostly empty space with a tiny, dense nucleus.

💡Alpha Particles

Alpha particles are positively charged particles, specifically helium nuclei, used by Rutherford in his gold foil experiment. These particles were crucial for testing atomic models, as their unexpected deflections provided evidence against the Plum Pudding Model and led to the discovery of the atomic nucleus. The video highlights how the use of alpha particles was essential in uncovering the true structure of the atom.

💡Nucleus

The nucleus is the dense, positively charged center of the atom discovered by Rutherford. The discovery showed that nearly all the mass of the atom is concentrated in the nucleus, contradicting the idea of a uniformly distributed positive charge. This concept is key in the video, as it reshaped the understanding of atomic structure and explained why most of the atom is empty space.

💡Planetary Model

The Planetary Model, developed by Rutherford, describes the atom as having a central nucleus with electrons orbiting around it, similar to planets around the sun. This model replaced the Plum Pudding Model after Rutherford’s experiment showed that the positive charge and mass were concentrated in the nucleus. The video uses this model to explain the structure of atoms and why matter is mostly empty space.

💡Gold Foil Experiment

The Gold Foil Experiment was conducted by Rutherford to test the structure of atoms. By observing how alpha particles were scattered when passed through a thin gold foil, the experiment provided critical evidence against the Plum Pudding Model and led to the discovery of the atomic nucleus. This experiment is a focal point in the video, demonstrating a significant shift in atomic theory.

💡Empty Space in Atoms

Atoms are mostly empty space, with the nucleus occupying a minuscule volume compared to the entire atom. This concept, emphasized in the video, explains why solid matter is not as 'solid' as it appears, and is key to understanding why atoms don't easily pass through each other despite being mostly empty. This realization dramatically altered the perception of matter at the atomic level.

💡Coulomb's Law

Coulomb's Law describes the force between two charged particles, which is central to understanding the forces at play in Rutherford’s experiment. The video explains how the repulsion between the positive alpha particles and the concentrated positive charge in the nucleus led to unexpected deflections, providing crucial evidence for the nuclear model of the atom.

Highlights

Introduction to the mystery of why objects don't pass through each other, leading to the exploration of atomic structure and physics discoveries in 1911.

In 1897, JJ Thomson discovers the electron, a particle much smaller than the atom, changing the understanding of atomic structure.

Thomson's plum pudding model proposes that atoms are made of a gas of positive charge, with electrons embedded inside, like plums in a pudding.

Ernest Rutherford, one of Thomson’s students, conducts experiments to test the plum pudding model using alpha particles and gold foil.

The experiment shows that most alpha particles pass straight through the gold foil, but some are deflected, indicating a dense, positively charged nucleus in the center of the atom.

The deflection of alpha particles disproves the plum pudding model and leads to the development of Rutherford's planetary model of the atom, where electrons orbit a central nucleus.

Rutherford concludes that the nucleus is incredibly small compared to the overall size of the atom, about 100,000 times smaller, with the atom being mostly empty space.

The planetary model of the atom is born, with electrons orbiting around a dense, positively charged nucleus, much like planets around the sun.

Rutherford’s back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals that most of the atom is empty, with the nucleus being the only dense part.

Despite being mostly empty space, matter still feels solid, leading to the question of why we can't pass through walls.

The discovery of the atomic nucleus and its implications for the structure of matter opened up new avenues of research in atomic and quantum physics.

The video teases that Rutherford’s model has flaws and that future discoveries in quantum mechanics will further explain the behavior of matter.

The discussion ends with a reflection on the importance of asking the right questions in science, setting up future explorations of quantum physics.

The narrator invites viewers to continue exploring these concepts, hinting at future content on quantum mechanics and relativity.

Closing thoughts on how understanding the emptiness of atoms can provide a new perspective on the physical world.

The video emphasizes the value of high school-level physics to explain complex concepts, such as atomic structure and quantum mechanics.

Transcripts

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oh hey I'm trying to understand why this

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hand does not go through this hand or

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why can't you walk through walls sounds

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like a silly question right but once you

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understand the shocking consequences of

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the 1911 physics discovery which are not

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discussed in textbook by the way

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you will gain a much better perspective

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of the matter around you and this

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question will not sound silly at all

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now to do this right we need to start a

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little bit from the beginning we need to

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go back in time in 1897. so this is what

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a random physics class would look like

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in 1897.

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so as I was saying students atoms are

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the most fundamental particles in this

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universe there's nothing smaller than

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the atoms you cannot divide the atoms

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atoms means in divisible so write that

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down atoms cannot be further divided

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JJ Thompson has discovered brand new

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negatively charged particles at least a

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thousand times smaller than the atom we

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are calling it the electron we believe

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all atoms have electrons in them

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exciting times ahead

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so as I was saying atoms are not the

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most fundamental particles in this

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universe

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that's right the discovery of electron

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by JJ Thomson changed everything it

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opened up a completely new branch of

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research that is figuring out what's

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inside the atom you see we already knew

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that atoms are neutral right but now we

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discovered that it has electrons which

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are negatively charged particles inside

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of it this also means there must be some

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kind of a positively charged

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thing inside it as well and there must

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be arranged in such a way that all their

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forces must cancel out because they all

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attract and repel and they must be

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arranged in such a way that it should

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remain stable and so the big question

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was what does that Arrangement look like

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what is the atomic structure look like

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after the discovery of electrons a lot

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of people were taking a crack at it and

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after a few years thousand came up with

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an idea and gave us the very first

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atomic model how let's go back in time

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oh my God what a boring Christmas party

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why did I say yes to this should I just

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stayed home and worked on my atomic

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model oh my God enjoying the party Mr

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Thompson oh yes yes yes I'm a very nice

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wonderful party that's exactly exactly

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what I was thinking about yeah and how

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do you like the pudding

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oh the pudding oh that's incredible yes

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and even the plums inside that pudding

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oh that is

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now I'm not sure if that story is true

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it would be so cool if it was but what

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did Thomson find out what was the idea

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that he got well he looked at the

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pudding and just like the pudding he

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said that maybe the atom is made of a

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some kind of a gas of positive charge

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that completely fills the atom up just

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like this this like the pudding part of

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that cake

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and if we just had this gas of positive

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charge because positive and positive

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would repel then that gas would tend to

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expand because positive positive repels

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from each other

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but what keeps it from expanding the

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electrons

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just like the plums in the pudding the

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electrons are placed inside the pudding

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of the positive charge and the forces

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bit of the electrons and the pository

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charge all balance in such a way the

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atom stays stable

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this was the plum pudding model given by

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JJ Thompson Thompson was killing it

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first the discovery of the electron now

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the very first atomic model The Plum

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Pudding model but like with any model it

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needs experimental evidence which means

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we had to test the plum pudding model

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who is going to test the plum pudding

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model this brings us to the star of this

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video any guesses it's one of Thompson's

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students himself

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that's right

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Ernst Rutherford

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Rutherford took up the task of testing

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the plum pudding model but how do you do

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that how do you test what's inside an

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atom like how does Humanity come up with

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these things

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Thomson's idea was quite straightforward

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actually

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Thompson said well if the entire atom is

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made of positive charge and there are

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electrons inside of it then he started

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wondering what would happen if you were

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to sort of like throw a positive charge

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at it another positive charge added

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imagine a positive charge atomic size

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bullet added Thompson argued that since

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there is equal amount of positive and

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negative charge this particular thing

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would not experience any Force

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it wouldn't experience any Force when

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it's outside and as a result it'll go

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straight in and inside as well it won't

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experience any Force because there's

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positive and negative charges everywhere

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and so that means if I threw a

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positively charged bullet straight at an

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atom it should go straight through

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this was the model this was the idea

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that Rutherford had and so therefore the

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idea was if I can somehow shoot

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positively charged bullets at atoms and

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if they go through if I can see that

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they're going straight through

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then I'm done that is a good test for

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the plum pudding model

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was how do you do that this is great in

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theory but how exactly do you do this

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few challenges the first challenge is

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how do you set your target atom like how

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do you make sure that you shoot you have

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one atom Target because most of the

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stuff that we have is made of billions

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of atoms

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well Rutherford's answer was very simple

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let's take a metal

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Medical's metals are very malleable you

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can make very very thin sheets out of it

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let's just hammer it and make things as

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thin as possible and therefore he

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actually asked one of his friends to

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make him a super thin gold foil for him

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gold is one of the most malleable

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materials on the planet and so his

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friend made a gold foil which apparently

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was few hundred atoms thick a few

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hundred atoms that's super super thin

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for that time at least

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and so yes we don't have one atom we'll

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have hundreds of atom but that's still

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fine the idea is that if they don't

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accept any Force the positive charge

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bullet should just go through maybe

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because there are hundreds of atoms it

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might have some small deviations but

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that's still okay but most of it mostly

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it should go just straight through

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that's the whole idea behind the plum

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pudding model okay we have one challenge

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done we have the gold foil the next

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challenge was

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how do we detect that the particles have

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gone straight through or not how do we

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detect the path well for that

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Rutherford's idea was to construct an

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apparatus like this

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where you have a thin this is a thin

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gold foil you're looking at it from the

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top now and the whole thing was like a

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stadium you have like a stadium boundary

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over there and it was coated with some

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kind of a chemical I forget what that

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chemical is I think it's zinc sulfide or

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something but the property of that

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chemical is when a positive charge or

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you know positive charge goes and hits

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it at that particular spot you would get

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a glow so for example if you see a glow

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somewhere over here that means that that

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particular bullet if it's shot from here

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it must have gone through like this and

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landed over there on the other hand if

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you see a glow somewhere over here then

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we can see that if it was shot from here

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it must have hit over here it must have

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gone like this so you can sort of think

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about the path over there so that was

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done that was that

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but the last question we might have or

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other food is

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where do we get positively charged

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Atomic bullets

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where does Rutherford find that from

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well

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let's go back in time

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all set for the experiment rather

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forward yeah I have everything ready

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except for where am I supposed to find a

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positively charged atomic size bullet

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it's 1909 there's no technology over

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here I don't know why I even signed up

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for this oh my God

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[Music]

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wait

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why is Curie calling me

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hey Kiri what's up brother four just

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wanted to call you to congratulate you

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again for your Nobel Prize thank you

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chemistry last year you know the one

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where you worked on the alpha particles

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which are like positively charged

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bullets coming out of radioactive

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substances okay I gotta call you back

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that's right Rutherford had already

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gotten a Nobel Prize the previous year

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in chemistry for his groundbreaking work

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on radioactivity in fact he did a lot of

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research in figuring out what the alpha

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particles were and he had figured out

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that the alpha particles are positively

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charged bullets today we know that alpha

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particles are basically helium nuclei

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and beta particles are actually

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electrons and Gamma is basically photons

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but back then what was important is that

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they knew that alpha particle was

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positively charged and so what what

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would Rutherford do now all Rutherford

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had to do was use his some kind of a

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radium isotope

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um which is uh which is a source of an

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alpha particle and of course enclose

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that so that you have more control over

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the direction you only want the alpha

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particles that are coming towards the

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gold foil and that's the last piece of

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the puzzle so we now have everything we

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have the gold foil we have the alpha

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Source we have the alpha particle Source

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we have zinc sulfide all around so we

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know where these alphabeticals land

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all we have to do is do that experiment

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now and once again let's go back in time

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one last time and look at this

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experiment done live

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all right folks are we all ready we have

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everything set up we also have our

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predictions everything is supposed to go

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straight through

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and that's obviously what's going to

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happen because you know some footing

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model is awesome JJ Thomson is awesome

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it's obviously right everything is just

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right I have Thompson on the speed dial

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as well because we know we're going to

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confirm it okay ready let us start poop

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there we go there we go all the alpha

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particles are going straight through

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awesome high fives high fives should I

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call Thompson now I think we should

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right like I mean it's happening it's

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happening all right let me call him

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wait did you see that

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I'm gonna call you back yeah it's just a

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glitch it's just a glitch it's fine it's

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it's fine I think it's it's not not a

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big deal wait there's another one

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what's happening

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wait there's another one

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and there's one more this this can't be

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no

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no

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this can't be no

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no

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what just happened why was Rutherford's

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so shocked

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well

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if you go back to the experiment

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we saw that most of the glow was right

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behind the gold foil and this was the

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one that we predicted this basically

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meant all the alpha particles over there

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went straight through

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but if you watched that that part that

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clip carefully we also found some glow

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which was behind

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this was the one that shocked Rutherford

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and his friends

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because that meant that alpha particles

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are bouncing off

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of gold atoms

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why is that such a huge deal because as

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a scientist you probably know that

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experiments don't always give you the

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exact same observations right that's

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that's part and parcel of Science and so

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maybe something like that has happened

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over here we just need to tweak our

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model a little bit right

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no

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what this meant which we'll understand

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now

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something dramatic this meant that the

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plum pudding model had to be completely

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discarded

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not tweaked not changed a little bit

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completely

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discarded

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why well let's look at it if the alpha

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particles are bouncing off like this

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there must be a significant force acting

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on them

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and since alpha particles were known to

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be pretty energetic this Force needs to

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be pretty high the big question was

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where is this Force coming from we

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already saw that because the according

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to the plum pudding model because

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everything is pretty neutral there's no

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way the plum putting model can generate

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that much force and Rutherford did some

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back of the envelope calculation even if

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you have hundreds of atoms anyone if

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it's not perfectly distributed

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he saw that the force needed to create

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that kind of a bouncing off effect

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is billions of times stronger than what

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the plum pudding model can ever give you

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billions of times stronger that's not

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just a small error that's a huge error

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and that's why Rutherford was shocked

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and he was trying to figure this out for

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another couple of years

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by doing multiple experiments and trying

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to figure out what does it all mean

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and eventually he did figure it out

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he realized that he had to throw the

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plump putting model out of the window

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and just start from scratch

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and so what he realized was that if I

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need to generate that much force there

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is no way that the positive charge can

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be distributed uniformly throughout the

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atom that's just not possible

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so he just he realized the only way that

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the alpha particles can get that much

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force if was if the positive charge is

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not distributed throughout the atom but

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if it was concentrated in a very tiny

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space

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at the center of the atom because then

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look the alpha particles can come very

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close to that positive charge and from

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Coulomb's law you probably know the

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closer something can come the closer

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charges are the bigger the coulomb

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repulsion

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and so you can have a very strong

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coulomb repulsion if and only if that

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all the positive charge is concentrated

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at the center no electrons over there so

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you feel the full brunt the full grunt

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full brunt full grunt of the positive

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charge

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and there therefore

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he said that all the positive charge

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must be concentrated at the center and

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he called it the atomic nucleus which

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you're probably familiar with

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and what about the electrons well you

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probably know how the story goes now he

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compared with our planetary model he

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realized that just like how the Sun

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pulls all the uh

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what samples all the what do you call

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that planet

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Sun pulls all the planets and makes it

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go around it similarly this positive

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charge will pull all the electrons and

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make them go around it and the planetary

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model was born

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and this perfectly fit the data because

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look because the thing is in the center

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most of the times the alpha particles

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will not even come close to it and

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therefore they will go through and that

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explained why most of the times we did

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see alpha particles going straight

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through

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and then sometimes about one in 20 000

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we found that the other particles were

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scattered by a very large angle

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and so this Alpha scattering experiment

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as we call it today is the one that led

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to the 1911 discovery of the planetary

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model and the atomic nucleus

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so the plum pudding model was discarded

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poor Thompson

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and the planetary model was born

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the student

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had become the master

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but now comes the shocking consequence

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part it was not a clickbait

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what is the shocking consequence of this

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that is not discussed in our textbooks

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and how is it related to what I

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initially talked about at the beginning

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of the video

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well Rutherford was able to do a back of

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the envelope calculation based on just

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Coulomb's law how small this nucleus

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needs to be and you can you can see that

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right if the nucleus is too big it'll

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not be able to come very close and

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you'll not be able to generate the force

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so just by looking at how much force he

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got he was able to figure this out and

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his back of the envelope calculation

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showed that the nucleus needs to be at

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least a hundred thousand times smaller

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than the atom and why was this so

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shocking you ask well first of all my

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brain cannot understand these large

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numbers hundred thousand is too big for

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me so what I should what we'll do is

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we'll scale it up imagine the atomic

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nucleus is the size of a grain of sand

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by that scale

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what would the atom look like what would

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the atom be just pause and think about

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would it be a lemon

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would it be a basketball

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it would be a freaking cricket stadium

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that's how small the atomic nucleus is

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the entire Cricket Stadium if you

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consider it to be the atom the nucleus

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is a grain of sand

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and

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we already saw that electrons are

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incredibly tiny incredibly massless part

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they have mass but their Mass they're

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very light particles this means all the

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mass of the atom is mostly in the

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positive charge and now all the mass of

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the atom is concentrated in that tiny

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space

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making the rest of the atom empty

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think about how empty that atom is if

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you actually put the two numbers you

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will find our atom is

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99.9999999999999999 empty

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all atoms are this much empty

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and we are made of atoms

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which means I am this much empty you are

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that much empty everything that you look

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around you is just empty space

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this also means our brains are empty

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and now that makes me wonder why doesn't

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this empty hand

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go through this empty hand

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isn't that a valid question now why

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can't we walk through walls

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what gives solid matter its structure

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so what's the answer to this well

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patience I promised you by the end of

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the video I'll give you a brand new

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perspective and I have done that

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hopefully

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and the hopefully the question that I've

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asked also makes sense

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sometimes in science actually most of

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the times in science we spend a lot of

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time trying to figure out the right

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answer but I think we get a lot of

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insights sometimes by trying to figure

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out what the right question is and that

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was the hope of this particular video

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because to answer this question we need

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to come continue this story turns out

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Rutherford's model has some pretty

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significant flaws we need to do some

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more role play with a few more folks

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before we can answer the question

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exactly why this empty hand does not go

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through this empty hand

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so that's it for this video I hope I was

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able to give you a brand new perspective

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I tried to do something creative and

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yeah I just want to know

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how did you feel about this should I be

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making more stuff on Quantum and

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relativity and all of it I love using

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High School physics to explain all of

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this so if you really enjoy all of this

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stuff please let me know in the comment

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section I will see you soon

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bye

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Related Tags
atomic structurephysics historyRutherford experimentplum pudding modelquantum physicsnucleus discoveryscientific breakthroughsJJ Thomsonalpha particlesscience education