Experimental Design/Data collection

aim a beam of alpha particles at a piece of gold foil that was approximately 8.6 x 10^(-6) centimeters thick. To be more accurate Rutherford actually included a wide variety of different foils (such as: aluminum, iron, and lead), but his use of gold foil is most commonly known. In accordance to the J.J. Thomson model of an atom, the alpha particles should have passed directly through the gold foil for all instances. Therefore to confirm this activity, a zinc sulfide screen was placed behind the foil as a backdrop for the alpha particles to appear upon. Directly above this screen was a microscope that allowed one of the two experimenters (only Geiger and Marsden )  actually performed the experiment, Rutherford just explained the results to observe any contact made between the alpha particles and the screen. In order for the light of the alpha particles to be observed, the experiment was performed in complete darkness. Also, to further enhance the accurateness of the observations the experimenter that was charged with looking through the microscope sat in the dark of the lab room for at least one hour before performing the experiment. This was done in order to allow the experimenter's eyes to reach maximum visual acuity.