If we use a-particles of higher energies than 5 5 MeV, the distance of
closest approach to the gold nucleus will be smaller and at some point
the scattering will begin to be affected by the short range nuclear forces,
and differ from Rutherford’s calculations Rutherford’s calculations are
based on pure coulomb repulsion between the positive charges of the a-
particle and the gold nucleus From the distance at which deviations set
in, nuclear sizes can be inferred