Which of the following statements is not consistent with the results obtained in Rutherford’s gold foil experiment?
A. The nucleus of an atom is positively charged.
B. The nucleus of an atom contains almost all the mass of the atom.
C. Atoms are composed mainly of empty space.
D. Electrons are contained in the nucleus of an atom.
A is wrong so am very confused with the answer please help.
D. Electrons are contained in the nucleus of an atom.
To determine which statement is not consistent with the results obtained in Rutherford's gold foil experiment, we need to understand the key findings from the experiment.
In Rutherford's experiment, he bombarded a thin gold foil with high-energy alpha particles. According to the prevailing "plum pudding" model of the atom at that time, it was expected that the alpha particles would pass directly through the foil with only slight deflections, as they would encounter evenly distributed positive charge throughout the atom.
However, the actual results of the experiment were quite different. Rutherford observed that most of the alpha particles passed straight through the foil, but a small fraction of them were deflected at large angles, and a few even bounced back in the opposite direction. This surprising finding led Rutherford to propose a new atomic model.
Based on the results of Rutherford's gold foil experiment, we can now assess the given statements:
A. The nucleus of an atom is positively charged: This statement is consistent with Rutherford's experiment. The large deflections and bounce-back of some alpha particles indicated the presence of a positively charged central region in the atom, which Rutherford called the nucleus.
B. The nucleus of an atom contains almost all the mass of the atom: This statement is consistent with Rutherford's experiment. Since only a small fraction of the alpha particles were deflected, and even fewer bounced back, it indicated that the majority of the mass of an atom is concentrated in a small, dense region (the nucleus).
C. Atoms are composed mainly of empty space: This statement is consistent with Rutherford's experiment. The fact that most of the alpha particles passed straight through the gold foil without significant deflection implied that atoms consist mainly of empty space, with the positively charged nucleus occupying a tiny fraction of the atom's volume.
D. Electrons are contained in the nucleus of an atom: This statement is NOT consistent with Rutherford's experiment. Rutherford's experiment revealed that electrons are not contained within the nucleus. Instead, he proposed that they orbit the nucleus at a significant distance.
Therefore, the correct answer is D. Electrons are contained in the nucleus of an atom.