Question

Choose the correct options and explain the reason for the correct and incorrect options in the context of Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment:

Options

• The experiment clearly showed the existence of neutrons in the nucleus.

• The results disproved the plum pudding model and led to the idea of a nucleus at the centre of the atom.

• The large deflection of a few alpha particles indicated that most of the mass of the atom and positive charge are packed into a tiny centre.

• The way alpha particles were deflected showed that electrons move around the nucleus.

Answer 1

• The results disproved the plum pudding model and led to the idea of a nucleus at the centre of the atom. 
• The large deflection of a few alpha particles indicated that most of the mass of the atom and positive charge are packed into a tiny centre.

Explanation:

The gold foil experiment showed that most of the atom is empty space and that its positive charge and most of its mass are concentrated in a tiny nucleus, so (ii) and (iii) are correct. It did not reveal neutrons, which Chadwick discovered later, and the experiment did not establish electron motion around the nucleus; those ideas are not conclusions from the alpha-particle deflections.