Which statement best summarizes the importance of Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment?

a. It proved that all of John Dalton's postulates were true.

b. It verified J. J. Thomson's work on the atomic structure.

c. It showed that an electron circles a nucleus in a fixed-energy orbit.

d. It showed that a nucleus occupies a small part of the whole atom.

The question says, 'which statement best summarizes the importance of Ernest Rutherfold gold foil experiment? The correct option is D. Ernest research showed that an atom has a small, dense, positively charged nucleus which is surrounded by empty space and electrons. He discovered that the size of the nucleus is very small compared to the size of the atom.