Question

State the drawbacks of Rutherford model of an atom.

Answer 1

The Rutherford’s model explains the structure of an atom in a very simple way. But, it suffers from the following drawbacks:

1. An electron revolving around the nucleus gets accelerated towards the nucleus. According to the electromagnetic theory, an accelerating charged particle must emit radiation, and lose energy. Because of this loss of energy, the electron would slow down, and will not be able to withstand the attraction of the nucleus. As a result, the electron should follow a spiral path, and ultimately fall into the nucleus. If it happens then the atom should collapse in about 10-8 second. But, this does not happen: atoms are stable. This indicates that there is something wrong with the Rutherford’ mass nuclear model of an atom.

2. The Rutherford’s model of the atom does not say anything about the arrangement of electrons in an atom.