Rutherford’s atom could not survive
An electron orbiting a positive nucleus should radiate energy, spiral inward, and destroy the atom. Real atoms remain stable and emit only specific spectral frequencies.
The young Niels Bohr put Planck’s quantum directly into Rutherford’s atom. He allowed electrons to occupy only selected stationary states, even though classical physics could not explain the rule.
Diagram description
Static physics diagram: bohr_energy_transition.
No place between the levels
Light appears when the atom changes energy:
The fixed differences explained hydrogen’s fixed spectral lines. Bohr could not explain why only these states existed or why stationary electrons did not radiate. The model also struggled with larger atoms.
It was scaffolding, not a finished building. Its achievement was to admit that nature might skip the intermediate states demanded by classical imagination.