Question

What do you think would happen if α-particles were replaced with negatively charged particles in Rutherford's gold foil experiment?

Answer 1

The nucleus is positively charged, so negatively charged particles would be attracted towards it instead of repelled. Particles passing near the nucleus would bend towards the centre, so the deflections would be in the opposite direction to those seen with α-particles. Most particles would still pass through the largely empty atom, but the pattern of scattering would change.