Question

Which of the statements are the drawbacks of Rutherford’s model of an atom?
A. The orbital revolution of the electron is not expected to be stable.
B. Any particle in a circular orbit would undergo acceleration and the charged particles would radiate energy.
C. The revolving electron would lose energy and finally fall into the nucleus.
D. All of the above.

Answer 1

Hint: Rutherford’s atomic model described the atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged core called a nucleus, in which nearly all the mass is concentrated, around which the light, negative constituents, called electrons, circulate at some distance, much like planets revolving around the Sun.

Complete Step by step solution:
Rutherford’s model of an atom postulated the nuclear structure of the atom but this model failed to explain some important characteristics of the atomic model.

Drawbacks of Rutherford’s atomic model:
a) Rutherford’s atomic model did not specify the orbits and the number of electrons in each orbit. Rutherford’s atomic model explains that electrons revolve around the nucleus in the fixed orbits.
b) Electrons revolving around the nucleus should emit electromagnetic radiation. This radiation would carry energy from the motion of the electron which would come at the cost of shrinking of orbits. Ultimately the electrons would collapse in the nucleus. Rutherford’s atomic model states that the electrons revolve around the nucleus in fixed paths called orbits. Rutherford’s model proposed that an electron would collapse in the nucleus in less than $10^{-8}$ seconds. So Rutherford’s atomic model could not explain the stability of an atom.
Rutherford’s atomic model failed to explain anything about the arrangement of electrons in an atom which made Rutherford’s atomic theory incomplete.

Note: In Rutherford's atomic model, atoms consist of the protons and neutrons, which comprise nearly all of the mass of the atom, are located in the nucleus at the center of the atom. Rutherford's atomic model is known as the nuclear model.