Question

Which conclusion could be made from Ernest Rutherford’s gold foil experiment?
Atoms are made up of mostly empty space.
Atoms are mainly solid and block alpha particles.
The volume of the nucleus is large compared to the rest of the atom.
The mass of the nucleus is small compared to the rest of the atom.

Answer 1

Atoms are made up of mostly empty space.

Rutherford observed most alpha particles passed straight through the foil (so atoms are mostly empty), while a few were strongly deflected or bounced back, indicating a very small, dense, positively charged nucleus that contains most of the atom’s mass.