Drawbacks of Rutherford’s Atomic Model

The model of the atom proposed by Rutherford is still known as the classical model and was very much accepted at that time, however, later on, it was revealed that there were certain aspects that this model was not able to answer. Hence, there are certain drawbacks of Rutherford’s model of an atom were introduced, they were as follows:

Inadequate Description of Electron Behavior

Rutherford did explain the revolving of electrons around the nucleus, however, the physicist did not mention how the electrons were placed inside, which ended up making Rutherford’s model an incomplete model of the atom.

Failure to Explain Stability of Atoms

According to Maxwell, electrons should emit electromagnetic radiation as any accelerated charged particle has the tendency of emitting electromagnetic radiation. Rutherford also stated that the electrons do revolve around the nucleus in their orbits. Hence, due to the kinetic motion of the electrons, the radiation shall lead to the shrinking of the electrons in less than 10 seconds as the atom will keep on losing energy. Therefore, when Rutherford’s model was mixed with Maxwell’s theory, it was realized that the model is flawed.

Failure to Explain Atomic Spectra

Rutherford’s model fails to explain the discrete emission and absorption spectra observed from different elements. It does not account for the specific wavelengths of light emitted or absorbed by atoms. The model does not provide a mechanism for the quantized energy levels of electrons, which are responsible for the spectral lines observed experimentally.

Check: Rutherford’s Alpha Scattering Experiment

In Rutherford’s Model of the Atom, Rutherford performed an experiment based on that experiment some of the hypotheses are given. At that time those hypotheses are considered revolutionary as there was an experiment to back that hypothesis. But as the experiment performed by Rutherford is rudimentary in nature, this model of the atom can be seen with a lot of major drawbacks, all of which we will be learning about under the heading Drawback 

In this article, other than the Drawbacks of Rutherford’s Atomic Model we will learn first learn about Rutherford’s Atomic Model, and also we will compare this model to the modern-day model of the atom. So, let’s start our learning of “Drawbacks of Rutherford’s Atomic Model” in this article.