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

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



Answer :

Final answer:

Rutherford's gold foil experiment demonstrated the small, dense nucleus of the atom.


Explanation:

Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment provided direct evidence for the size and mass of the nucleus by scattering alpha particles from a thin gold foil. The experiment showed that the atom is composed of a small, dense nucleus with electrons occupying the mostly empty space around it, leading to the formulation of the Rutherford model of the atom.


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