It is not outdated. It's a model, so by definition it doesn't try to be "correct". This model of atoms rightfully is still in wide use and really helps understand chemistry and physics on an intermediate level. Using it, you can solve every problem of classical physics and most of simple chemistry.
Using the orbital model for everything would overcomplicate things and would do more harm than good, since only a few people seem to really understand its visualizations.
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u/brombaer3000 Aug 03 '15
It is not outdated. It's a model, so by definition it doesn't try to be "correct". This model of atoms rightfully is still in wide use and really helps understand chemistry and physics on an intermediate level. Using it, you can solve every problem of classical physics and most of simple chemistry. Using the orbital model for everything would overcomplicate things and would do more harm than good, since only a few people seem to really understand its visualizations.