Rutherford's experiment,in which he fired alpha particles of 7.7 MeV kinetic energy at a thin gold foil,showed that nuclei were very much smaller than the size of an atom because

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Rutherford's experiment showed that some alpha particles were deflected backwards, indicating that they had encountered a densely packed, positively charged region within the atom - which we now know to be the nucleus. The fact that only a tiny fraction of alpha particles were deflected in this way suggested that the nucleus must be very small compared to the size of an atom. Choice A is partially correct, as some alpha particles did pass through the foil undeflected, but this does not provide evidence for the small size of the nucleus. Choices C, D, and E are all incorrect, as there is no evidence from Rutherford's experiment that alpha particles were captured by gold nuclei, could not get closer than a certain distance to the nuclei, or split into deuterium nuclei.

Rutherford's Experiment,in Which He Fired Alpha Particles of 7