Question Detail
Question
What observation in the gold foil experiment indicated the existence of a dense nucleus?
Correct Answer
Option B is the correct answer.
Detailed Explanation
The fact that a small fraction of alpha particles were deflected at large angles (some even bouncing back) indicated that they had collided with a very small, dense, and positively charged region within the atom, which Rutherford called the nucleus.
Hint
A head-on collision with something massive and dense would cause a particle to bounce back.