Question

Which statement best summarizes the importance of Ernest Rutherford’s gold foil experiment?

It proved that all of John Dalton’s postulates were true.
It verified J. J. Thomson’s work on the atomic structure.
It showed that an electron circles a nucleus in a fixed-energy orbit.
It showed that a nucleus occupies a small part of the whole atom.

Answer 1

D. It showed that a nucleus occupies a small part of the whole atom.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

It showed that a nucleus occupies a small part of the whole atom. The fact that most of the particles passes right through the gold foil indicated that the actual volume of the nucleus is incredibly small compared to the size of the atom since the nucleus is what would stop the particles from passing through it.