Question

What are the drawbacks of Rutherford's model of an atom?

Answer 1

Conclusion of Rutherford's model of an atom:

• The space inside an atom is empty as most of the α-particles passed without deflection through the gold foil.
• The positive charge occupies a minimum space which indicates that very few particles were diverted from their path.
• A very small proportion of α-particles were diverted by 180^°.

Drawbacks of Rutherford's model of an atom:

• The movement of electrons was not specified by him and was expected to be unstable.
• Any particle in a circular orbit undergoes acceleration and radiate energy due to which the revolving particle identified by Rutherford was unstable as they tend to fall inside the nucleus.