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.

http://myweb.usf.edu/~mhight/goldfoil.html

Thank you so much :D

You are welcome.

Ms. Sue I still have a doubt. Is it B?

In Rutherford's gold foil experiment, a beam of alpha particles was directed at a thin sheet of gold foil. Most of the alpha particles passed through the foil without any deflection, but a few of them were deflected at large angles, and some even bounced back. Based on these observations, Rutherford proposed the following conclusions:

A. The nucleus of an atom is positively charged.
This statement is consistent with the results of Rutherford's experiment. The deflection and bouncing back of some alpha particles indicated that they were interacting with a concentrated positive charge at the center of 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 the results of Rutherford's experiment. The fact that most of the alpha particles passed through the gold foil without significant deflection suggested that atoms are mostly empty space. This means that the mass of an atom must be concentrated in a small, dense region, which is the nucleus.

C. Atoms are composed mainly of empty space.
This statement is consistent with the results of Rutherford's experiment. Most of the alpha particles passed through the gold foil without being deflected, indicating that atoms are mostly empty space. The few deflections and bounces were due to the rare encounters with the positively charged nucleus.

D. Electrons are contained in the nucleus of an atom.
This statement is NOT consistent with the results of Rutherford's experiment. Rutherford concluded that electrons are outside the nucleus, surrounding it in orbits or energy levels. The deflection of alpha particles by the positive nucleus indicated that electrons must be located around the nucleus but not inside it.

Therefore, the correct answer is D. Electrons are contained in the nucleus of an atom.

To arrive at this answer, you should understand the key findings and conclusions of Rutherford's gold foil experiment. By recognizing that the deflection and bouncing back of alpha particles indicated the positive charge confined to the nucleus, you can eliminate options A, B, and C as they are consistent with Rutherford's observations. Option D is inconsistent because Rutherford concluded that electrons are not contained within the nucleus.