Discovering the Charge of an Electron

An Investigation through the Millikan Oil Drop

Experiment

000251-0221

Date: April 5, 2024

Introduction

Exploring the realm of electricity has always fascinated me; it’s similar to witnessing magic, where a

simple flick of a switch can summon light. From my physics class to conversations with like-minded

friends, my curiosity about electricity and its concepts grew in me.

When I was told to research an IA exploration of my interest, I went directly to electrons, as I remember

pondering how exactly the electron functions. I had always seen the idea that current stems from electrons

but never understood fully what the particle was doing exactly. When searching the web for a reason, I

learned about the electron having a specific charge, but I started to question how exactly we know this

value.

At first, I was wondering if one could find the charge of the electron via a circuit. Although one could

theoretically solve it, finding the drift velocity of an electron can vary depending on the electron itself.

After searching online a bit further, I found the Millikan Oil Drop experiment.

Historical Background

Before the Millikan Oil Drop experiment, the idea of the atom was being explored by other scientists as

they wanted to understand what matter was made of. This period of the 19 th and 20th centuries was key to

delving into the fundamental blocks of the universe. The discovery of the electron by J.J Thomson

provided the groundbreaking idea that atoms were small subatomic particles.1 This discovery allowed for

further experimentation, such as the Millikan Oil Drop experiment to find the charge of an electron.

The Millikan Oil Drop experiment was conducted by suspending oil droplets in an electric field and

measuring them at equilibrium while remaining in the electric field.2 His investigation of the experiment

had unprecedented accuracy with only uncertainty on the last two digits of the universal accepted value of

1
Thomson, J.J. "Cathode Rays." Philosophical Magazine, vol. 44, no. 269, 1897, pp. 293-316.

2
Millikan, Robert A. "On the Elementary Electrical Charge and the Avogadro Constant." Physical Review, vol. 2, no. 2, 1913, pp. 109-143.
the electron. It is fascinating as the technology we have today is more advanced compared to the

technology used by Millikan and one whose experiments would get similar results.

Figure 1 Millikan Original Experiment

Research Question

This investigation aims to replicate the Millikan oil-drop experiment using an online computer simulation

to determine the value of an electron.

I chose to do an online simulation because the materials to replicate this experiment are expensive and

multiple programs can almost replace the experiment to a high accuracy outside of its purpose to

demonstrate the function of the experiment.

Design and Methodology

The Millikan oil-drop experiment consisted of two metal plates connected to opposite terminals with a

separation of distance in between. Oil drops would be sprayed from the top and then fall into a little slit

where the electric field acts upon the particles The balance of the particles in the field allowed for him to

mark the observations.

Figure 2 Millikan’s oil-drop setup.

The methodology involved carefully observing the oil particles suspending between the electric field

while other particles are attracted to the positive or negative plates. Millikan used a microscope with a

lens inside the apparatus to monitor the electrons that would slowly drift. He would constantly adjust the

voltage to find the moment when the particles remain in equilibrium and do not move. This allowed him

to calculate the charge of an electron.

Selecting the Experimental Method

Before choosing an online simulation, I was searching for a method of replicating the experiment. My

first attempt was using a completely different method, this method was primarily focused on finding the

electron based on the current and drift velocity inside of the solid material. However, this attempt failed as

the material heated up and it was hard to find the number of electrons passing through at a certain

moment.

I then moved on to replicating the Millikan experiment in real life. I had inexpensive materials set up but

there was a dielectric breakdown between the separation of the plates, so I had to narrow down my

decision to using an online method.

After looking at multiple simulations, I used the online "thephysicsaviary" website that contained the
Millikan Oil Drop Lab experiment. This online simulation was the most user-friendly and working

simulation that did not need Flash or HTML4.

The online simulation made by “thepysicsaviary3” also does a great job replicating the original

experiment.

Figure 3 Online simulation from Physics Aviary

Methodology

To calculate the value of the electron, I had to first find the charge at equilibrium. Using Newton's Third

Law of Motion along with Columbus's Law, the equation is.

𝐹 =𝐹 +𝐹

The simulation provides the details of the density of the oil, air, and the distance between the two plates.

The mass is not given but the density and radius are.

3
Physics Aviary. "Millikan Oil Drop Lab." The Physics Aviary,

http://www.thephysicsaviary.com/Physics/Programs/Labs/MillikanOilDropLab/index.html.
 m
ρ=
V

m=𝑉∗ρ

𝐹 is m ∗ g, but as we do not have mass, the mass can be replaced. The same can be applied to the drag

force.

For 𝐹 , the equation is equal to 𝑞𝐸. Although the electric field is not given it can be expressed as .

With this knowledge, the formulas can be expanded as:

4 V 4
∗𝝅∗𝑟 ∗ρ ∗𝑔=𝑞∗ + ∗𝝅∗𝑟 ∗ρ ∗𝑔
3 d 3

To solve for q, the equation can be simplified.

4 4 V
∗𝝅∗𝑟 ∗ρ ∗𝑔− ∗𝝅∗𝑟 ∗ρ ∗𝑔=𝑞∗
3 3 d

4 V
∗ 𝝅 ∗ 𝑟 ∗ (ρ −ρ )∗𝑔 =𝑞∗
3 d

4 ∗ 𝑟 ∗ (ρ −ρ )∗𝑔∗𝑑
𝑞=
3V

To find the q, I clicked on the simulation and used the values of voltages and radius of charge it gave me.

The density of oil for all charges is: 900 kg m-3

The density of air is: 1.2 kg m-3

The distance between the two plates is 3.0 nm

Raw Data

In the simulation, after clicking the view button the following values were presented. The simulation itself
gives a varying voltage and radius of the charge when spraying the oil drops into the electric field. I

repeated this 24 times to reduce the uncertainty.

Figure 4: Simulation Details from Physics Aviary

Trial Voltage (± 0.001 V) 𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑠 (±0.001 𝑛𝑚)

1 14.10 550.0

2 19.70 380.0

3 18.50 510.0

4 10.30 350.0

5 14.40 440.0

6 19.70 440.0

7 13.90 430.0

8 16.00 410.0
 9 13.60 350.0

10 18.00 470.0

11 13.30 460.0

12 17.20 560.0

13 12.20 390.0

14 15.50 450.0

15 14.60 440.0

16 15.50 410.0

17 15.20 510.0

18 15.80 360.0

19 18.90 480.0

20 10.20 470.0

21 17.00 420.0

22 10.90 450.0

23 13.60 490.0

24 16.00 520.0

Processed Data

With a Python program, I created a function that takes the data and calculates the electron's charge from

the equation I derived. The uncertainty can be avoided in the calculation of the charge because each trial

gives the defined values, and the uncertainties are so low that they can be avoided.

Trial Voltage (± 0.001 V) 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 (10 𝐶)

1 14.10 11.31
2 19.70 3.083

3 18.50 7.936

4 10.30 4.608

5 14.40 6.548

6 19.70 4.768

7 13.90 6.331

8 16.00 4.768

9 13.60 3.490

10 18.00 6.384

11 13.30 8.101

12 17.20 11.30

13 12.20 5.382

14 15.50 6.507

15 14.60 6.458

16 15.50 4.922

17 15.20 9.660

18 15.80 3.269

19 18.90 3.214

20 10.20 11.27

21 17.00 4.824

22 10.90 9.254

23 13.60 9.575

24 16.00 9.727
Similar to the Millikan analysis, there is a notable occurrence of a strong correlation of 10 appearing

multiple times in the data.4

The bar graph presented below has a stair pattern in the data indicating the presence of the common

factor. This common factor of 1.6*10

Figure 5: Bar Chart of the common factor

By using the equation to find the charge of multiple electrons, Q = ne, I can use the common factor

found, which was 1.6*10 . This common factor allowed me to understand greater depth in Millikan's

thought process and his methodology for finding the charge of an electron.

Furthermore, I can rearrange the formula to 𝑁 = .

Voltage (± 0.001 V) 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 (10 𝐶) Integer Number of Charges

19.70 3.083 2

13.60 3.214 2

4
Ibid
 15.80 3.269 2

18.90 3.490 2

10.30 4.608 3

19.70 4.768 3

16.00 4.768 3

12.20 4.824 3

15.50 4.922 3

17.00 5.382 3

14.40 6.331 4

13.90 6.384 4

18.00 6.458 4

15.50 6.507 4

14.60 6.548 4

18.50 7.936 5

13.30 8.101 5

15.20 9.254 6

10.90 9.575 6

13.60 9.66 6

16.00 9.727 6

17.20 11.27 7

10.20 11.3 7

14.10 11.31 8

Using the integer value and charge, I created a graph by plotting the points and utilized the slope to find

the theoretical value of a single electron.

Figure 6: Graph of Charge vs Integer of Electrons

According to my results from the slope of the best-fit line, the theoretical value of an electron is

1.598*10 C.

Limitations

Although I used a computer simulation, there are some limitations to the data because the voltages varied

for different sizes of electrons. Along with this, some electrons with the same radius had different

numbers of charges.

While looking at my data on the graph there seem to be two points that are slightly farther away, which

can influence the gradient that gives the theoretical value.

Conclusion

Although the limitations of the computer simulation did have setbacks of not giving me the exact value,

the technology behind the process of replicating the experiment is fascinating. Millikan experiment to

find an electron was a fundamental breakthrough during his time and the simulation replicating the

experiment shows the importance of it.

. ( ) . ( )
The result I got from my experiment was 1.598*10 C. My percent error was | |
. ( )

≈ 0.250% off from the accepted value. Although the percent error may seem extremely small, Millikan

found the correct accepted value to be 1.6021766208*10 C with uncertainty at the last two digits.

This online simulation has given me a better understanding of the idea of electron charge and how the

value was properly calculated. I am still curious about testing the charge of an electron using the drift

velocity to see if it would produce similar results.

Overall, if I had access to inexpensive materials then I could have produced better results, but doing it

online was still insightful and expanded my knowledge.

Bibliography

Thomson, J.J. "Cathode Rays." Philosophical Magazine, vol. 44, no. 269, 1897, pp. 293-316.

Millikan, Robert A. "On the Elementary Electrical Charge and the Avogadro Constant." Physical Review,

vol. 2, no. 2, 1913, pp. 109-143.

Physics Aviary. "Millikan Oil Drop Lab." The Physics Aviary,

http://www.thephysicsaviary.com/Physics/Programs/Labs/MillikanOilDropLab/index.html.

Pavia, Donald L., Gary M. Lampman, George S. Kriz, and Randall G. Engel. "Introduction to Organic

Laboratory Techniques: A Microscale Approach." Cengage Learning, 2014.

Serway, Raymond A., Chris Vuille, and Jerry S. Faughn. "College Physics." Cengage Learning, 2011.

Giancoli, Douglas C. "Physics for Scientists & Engineers with Modern Physics." Pearson, 2014.

Knight, Randall D. "Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach with Modern Physics."

Pearson, 2016.