Which statement regarding the gold foil experiment is false? 1. the α particles were repelled by electrons. 2. it suggested that atoms are mostly empty space. 3. it suggested the nuclear model of the atom. 4. most of the α particles passed through the foil undeflected. 5. it was performed by rutherford and his research group early in the 20th century.

1. The α particles were repelled by electrons.

Explanation:

The gold foil experiment was performed by Rutherford and his research group in 1911 (at the beginning of the 20th century). In this experiment, α particles were bombed to gold foils, and films were placed surround it to collect the particles.

It was observed that most of the particles passed through of the foil undeflected, and for that, Rutherford stated that the atom was a "huge empty". Some particles were deflected, because they're attracted to the electrons at the electrosphere, and a small number of particles were complete deflected to the origin because they chocked with the small positive nuclei.

Thus, the experiment suggested the nuclear model of the atom, called the planetary model, that was improved after by Bohr and other scientists in the quantum model.