Question

In Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment, most positively charged particles passed through the foil, but a few particles were deflected strongly. This result caused Rutherford to infer ________.

1) the existence of the atomic nucleus
2) the presence of electrons in the atom
3) the formation of chemical bonds
4) the behavior of light

Answer 1

Rutherford's gold foil experiment led to the inference of the existence of the atomic nucleus due to the deflection of positively charged alpha particles by a concentrated positive charge within the atom. Therefore, the correct answer is 1) the existence of the atomic nucleus.

Step-by-step explanation:

In Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment, the observation that most positively charged particles passed through the foil, but a few were strongly deflected, led Rutherford to infer the existence of the atomic nucleus.

Since the alpha particles were positively charged, Rutherford deduced that the deflections were the result of encounters with a highly concentrated positive charge within the atoms.

The vast majority of alpha particles passed through the foil undisturbed because they traversed essentially empty space, indicating that the positive charge, and thus the atomic mass, was concentrated in a very small portion of the atom.

This groundbreaking discovery revolutionized our understanding of the atom and laid the foundation for the development of the modern atomic model.