Rutherford gold foil experiment?

Compare the kinetic energies---an alpha is a charged helium nucleus. It has mass. An electron has no mass or very little.

Rap

The term wavelength is more commonly used in connection with waves. An alpha particle is two protons and two neutrons bound together. Despite wave/particle duality, kinetic energy or mass would be more appropriate measures.

The wavelength of an electron can be given by the de Broglie equation which says wavelength is equal to 'h' (Planck's constant) divided by 'p' (the relativistic momentum of the electron). In a similar manner, the de Broglie wavelength of a 5.5 MeV alpha particle is approximately 6.4 into 10 to the power minus 15 metres. This is of the order of the size of the nucleus and hence it can be used to find the nucleus inside the atom.

I didn't say it couldn't be done. I said it would be unusual, especially, since de Broglie hadn't published his paper yet when the gold foil experiment was done.