Rutherford's model of the atom was no doubt appealing in part because it seemed to mimic the larger world people could see. But just as the planets slowly lose orbital energy as they circle the sun, the energy supply of the tiny electron should be degraded too.

Physicists had already established in Rutherford's era that a charged particle moving in a circle but keeping a constant orbital radius must radiate energy. Hence the nuclear model of the atom should render all matter unstable as electrons gradually spiral into nuclei when their orbits "decay" due to loss of energy.

Obviously, this does not happen.

The next step in the development of the atomic model changed the way in which scientists looked at and thought about matter, especially very small pieces like electrons and protons.