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Physics: Rutherford scattering; find thickness of wall

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A beam of particles strikes a wall containing 2 x 10^29 atoms per m^3. Each atom behaves like a sphere of radius 3 x 10^-15m. Find the thickness of wall that exactly half the particles will penetrate without scattering. What Thickness would be needed to stop all but one particle in 10^6 ?

Answer should be: 0.123m and 2.44m

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Solution Summary

Rutherford scattering is examined to determine the thickness of a wall.

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Rutherford scattering
A beam of particles strikes a wall containing 2 x 10^29 atoms per m^3. Each atom behaves like a sphere of radius 3 x 10^-15m. Find the thickness of wall that exactly half the particles will penetrate without scattering. What Thickness would be needed to stop all but one particle in 10^6 ? Answer should be: 0.123m and 2.44m

Let the flux of the incoming particles = f
Flux of particles coming out of a wall of thinness x , f(x) is given by:
f(x) = f e-x/λ (see the note at ...

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