Multiple Choice
In Rutherford's gold foil experiment, why did some alpha particles bounce back after striking the foil?
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2. Atoms & Elements
Rutherford Gold Foil Experiment
Multiple Choice
What was the main result of Rutherford's gold foil experiment?
A
Most alpha particles passed through the foil, but a few were deflected at large angles, indicating the presence of a small, dense, positively charged nucleus.
B
Alpha particles bounced back uniformly, showing that atoms are mostly empty space.
C
All alpha particles were absorbed by the gold foil, proving that atoms are solid throughout.
D
Alpha particles caused the gold foil to emit electrons, supporting the plum pudding model.
Verified step by step guidance1
Understand the setup of Rutherford's gold foil experiment: alpha particles were directed at a very thin sheet of gold foil to observe how they scattered.
Recall the expectations based on the plum pudding model, which predicted that alpha particles would pass through with minimal deflection because positive charge was thought to be spread out evenly.
Analyze the actual observations: most alpha particles passed straight through the foil, but a small fraction were deflected at large angles, and some even bounced back.
Interpret these results to conclude that atoms must have a small, dense, positively charged center (nucleus) that repels the positively charged alpha particles, while most of the atom is empty space allowing most particles to pass through.
Summarize the main result: the experiment disproved the plum pudding model and led to the nuclear model of the atom, where a tiny nucleus contains most of the atom's mass and positive charge.
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