Question

14 you conduct a lab experiment where you shoot tiny particles at a very thin sheet of metal only a few atoms thick. you expect that the particles will bounce off the solid atoms in the metal sheet, but while some of the particles bounce, most of them go straight through. what can you conclude about the atoms in the sheet?
a the atoms are solid balls tightly packed together
b the atoms are mostly empty space, with most of the matter in the center of the atom
c there actually arent any atoms in the metal sheet
d the atoms are balls of positive charge with negative charge embedded within them

Explanation:

This experiment is similar to Rutherford's gold foil experiment. In that experiment, most alpha particles passed through the gold foil, showing atoms are mostly empty space, with most mass (matter) in the nucleus (center). Option A is wrong because if atoms were tightly packed solid balls, most particles would bounce. Option C is wrong as metal has atoms. Option D describes the plum - pudding model, which was disproven by Rutherford's experiment. So the correct conclusion is that atoms are mostly empty space with most matter in the center.

Answer:

B. the atoms are mostly empty space, with most of the matter in the center of the atom