In a Rutherford scattering experiment when a projectile of charge and mass approaches a target nucleus of charge and mass the distance of closest approach is . The energy of the projectile is
A particle of mass and charge possess initial velocity u, when it is at a large distance from the nucleus of an atom having atomic number . At the distance of closest approach, the kinetic energy of particle is completely converted to potential energy. Mathematically,
So the energy of the particle is directly proportional to .