The more the better for tx propagation and block validation. I think 5000 is good enough, if it grows with the number of txs, not reduces.
How so, and how ia that useful. In general nodes dont provide benefit to the network are are just wasted resources.
It would be more valuable to spend resources on buying coin or developing apps etc
You not read Bitcoin introduction by Satoshi Nakamoto:
http://www.buywithbitcoin.info/satoshiNetwork
The steps to run the network are as follows:
1)
New transactions are broadcast to all nodes.
2)
Each node collects new transactions into a block.
3)
Each node works on finding a difficult proof-of-work for its block.
4)
When a node finds a proof-of-work, it broadcasts the block to all nodes.
5)
Nodes accept the block only if all transactions in it are valid and not already spent.
6)
Nodes express their acceptance of the block by working on creating the next block in the
chain, using the hash of the accepted block as the previous hash.
Nodes always consider the longest chain to be the correct one and will keep working on
extending it. If two nodes broadcast different versions of the next block simultaneously, some
nodes may receive one or the other first. In that case, they work on the first one they received,
but save the other branch in case it becomes longer. The tie will be broken when the next proof-
of-work is found and one branch becomes longer; the nodes that were working on the other
branch will then switch to the longer one.