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In Rutherford's gold foil experiment, most alpha particles passed through the gold foil without deflection and were detected on the screen. What caused the particles to pass through without any deflection? A. a large area of positively charged particles present in the gold foil. B. the extremely high speed of the alpha particles passing through the gold foil. C. a small area of negatively charged particles present in the gold foil. D. empty space in the atoms present in the gold foil.

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Answer:

Option D.

Step-by-step explanation:

Some of the alpha particles Rutherford shot at the gold foil bounced back, some scattered; but the majority of them went right through. That meant there had to be some sort of positively charged subatomic particle in there that pulled them through, but it had to be at the center and couldn't take up a lot of room.

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