Talk:Geiger-Marsden experiment
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[edit] Vandalism
I don't know how/don't have time to revert it, but somebody's added the word 'balls' randomly into sentaces in the 'Conclusions' section.
[edit] Name of article
Should this article not be under Geiger-Marsden experiment with "Gold foil experiment" being a redir? Awolf002 16:49, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
- I agree. Itub 00:13, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
- Sounds good to me! --Fastfission 01:02, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I object
Okay, if nobody else watching this article objects I will go ahead and change it. Awolf002 15:25, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
- It was certainly called the Geiger-Marsden experiment when I learnt about it at school years ago. Using the "Google test":
- "Geiger-Marsden Experiment" gets about 400 hits (or sometimes 500, which I don't understand)
- "Gold Foil Experiment" gets about 11,300 hits (or sometimes 21,200, which I don't understand either)
- "Rutherford Experiment" seems to be another name for it, and gets about 10,600 hits.
- "Rutherford Gold Foil Experiment" gets 805 hits.
- "Rutherford-Geiger-Marsden Experiment" gets a dozen or so hits.
- On the criteria of "most popular name" then Gold Foil seems to win, although this may not be the correct criteria to use. Jll 15:38, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
I see the same results. However, since I do think we should have "Gold foil experiment" as a redir to "Geiger-Marsden experiment", I'm not certain this helps with this decision. I just think an article name should be 'precise' in the sense that it well describes its own topic, and "Gold foil experiment" seems to be weak. The title of a science article should also be "correct" in the sense that science is using that title as a clear and defined term, so a Google test has only limited value. That criterium might hold for both alternatives, but it still tilts the decision towards the "Geiger-Marsden Experiment" in my mind. Awolf002 01:35, 13 March 2006 (UTC)
- I don't think it matters too much. I prefer the less colloquial name personally, though I admit part of that reason is that this experiment gets too easily conflated with Rutherford himself and I think Geiger and Marsden deserve a little more visibility. But I recognize that's not a very compelling reason in and of itself! --Fastfission 01:42, 13 March 2006 (UTC)
- I find the scientific "correctness" argument compelling. Google gets many more hits for Mad Cow disease than for Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, but it is the latter that is used for the title of that article, and I think rightly so. I have changed my view from being unsure to agreeing that the title should be Geiger-Marsden experiment. Jll 16:15, 13 March 2006 (UTC)
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- Alright, I will make the "Gold foil experiment" and "Geiger-Marsden experiment" swap places, as soon as the WP servers are more stable. Right now, editing is quite a pain. Awolf002 17:00, 13 March 2006 (UTC)
