parameter), all the kinetic energy of the alpha particle is turned into potential energy and the particle is at rest. The distance from the center of the alpha particle to the center of the nucleus () at this point is an upper limit for the nuclear radius, if it is evident from the experiment that the scattering process obeys the cross section formula given above. Applying the inverse-square law between the charges on the alpha particle and nucleus, one can write: Assumptions: 1. There are no external forces acting on the system. Thus the total energy (K.E.+P.E.) of the system is constant. 2. Initially the alpha particles are at a very large distance from the nucleus. Rearranging: For an alpha particle: (mass) = = (for helium) = 2 × = (for gold) = 79 × = (initial velocity) = (for this example) Substituting these in gives the value of about , or 27 fm. (The true radius is about 7.3 fm.) The true radius of the nucleus is not recovered in these experiments because the alphas do not have enough energy to penetrate to more than 27 fm of the nuclear center, as noted, when the actual radius of gold is 7.3 fm. Rutherford realized this, and also realized that actual impact of the alphas on gold causing any force-deviation from that of the coulomb potential would change the form of his scattering curve at high scattering angles (the smallest impact parameters) from a hyperbola to something else. This was not seen, indicating that the surface of the gold nucleus had not been "touched" so that Rutherford also knew the gold nucleus (or the sum of the gold and alpha radii) was smaller than 27 fm. Extension to situations with relativistic particles and target recoil The extension of low-energy Rutherford-type scattering to relativistic energies and particles that have intrinsic spin is beyond the scope of this article. For example, electron scattering from the proton is described as Mott scattering, with a cross section that reduces to the Rutherford formula for non-relativistic electrons. If no internal energy excitation of the beam or target particle occurs, the process is called "elastic scattering", since energy and momentum have to be conserved in any case. If the collision causes one or the other of the constituents to become excited, or if new particles are created in the interaction, then the process is said to