[Joonifer]

I was wondering if there would be any differences if beryllium foil was used in Rutherford's alpha particle scattering experiment instead of gold foil?

I originally thought that there would be no difference considering that for the experiment because only a very thin foil was needed for the original experiment (and gold is malleable to a thickness of 100 nanometres).  However, I also know that beryllium is a reactive element.  Would this add differences if beryllium foil was used instead of gold?

Thanks!

[UG]

Beryllium = 4 proton + 5 neutron
Gold = 79 proton (!) + 118 neutron