(Fields)

Millikan’s Experiment

Hello
!
 You’ll find everything and
more at;
http://millikan.posterous.com
 Learning Objectives
D
Describe the Millikan experiment

Identify the forces on a charge in an

electric field

Apply the correct formulae to calculate

charge

Compare and contrast Millikan’s

methods with scientific practice
A
 The Four Fundamental
Forces

All other forces you know about can be attributed to one of these!
 Historical Setting
Early 1900s
Rutherford had reported his
alpha scattering
experiments. Structure of
atom known but not
accepted by everyone.
Charge on an alpha particle
known.
Experiments with cathode
rays known including fact
that negatively charged.
Einstein
Millikan
 Starter…
Problem:
Each container contains an unknown
number of sweets

How do I find the mass of one sweet?

 My Results:
Number Mass Subtract smallest value

8 22 0
2 27 5
5 27 5
4 32 10
6 32 10
10 42 20
1 42 20
9 47 25
3 47 25
7 52 30
 Change in Mass Histogram

3
2
Number

1
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Mass

So, Smallest mass must be…….

5g
 The Electron

Thompson measured the

charge/mass ratio of the electron to
be 1.76 × 108 coulombs/g.
 Back to Millikan;

He too was
looking for
discrete units
of charge…
 Millikan Oil Drop Experiment

Describe the Millikan experiment

 In essence;
Blue plates charged – charge can be
varied.

Describe the Millikan experiment

Oil drops fall through hole in top plate.
Xrays place electrons on drops.
Microscope used for observing drops.
 Design of the Experiment

Describe the Millikan experiment

Acceleration: gravitational and electrical

A falling ball An accelerating charge

starts at high starts at high

gravitational electrical
potential energy potential
energy
gravitational electric
field g field
mass m charge q +
height h
+ potential
difference V
gains gains
kinetic kinetic –
energy energy
ends at low ends at low
gravitational electrical
potential energy potential energy

+
gravitational electric
potential potential

ball falls down gravitational charge ‘falls down’ electrical

potential hill potential hill
ΔEp=mgΔh ΔW = QΔV
gain of kinetic energy = loss of potential energy = mgh gain of kinetic energy = loss of potential energy = qV

An electric field accelerates a charge as a gravitational field accelerates a mass

Two ways of describing electrical forces

Action at a distance Action via electric field

forces on
charges on
charges from
+ _ plates produce + _
combined electric field
attractions and + _ + _
repulsions by
charges on + _ forces on + _
repel + attract charges from +
plates _ _
+ electric field +
(vectors) _ _
+ +
+ _ + – _

+ _ + _
attract – repel _ _
+ +
+ _ + _

Forces act across empty space Electric field: forces act locally, field ‘fills space’

Defining electric field

E = F/q g = F/m
field E
+ –1
unit of E is N C
charge q force F
 A B
F To move the charge from
+Q
A to B a force equal to F would
+V be needed. The work done
moving Q from A to B is W.

d W = Fd

But E = F/Q or F = EQ

So, W = EQd

V Potential difference is defined as

work done per unit charge:
V = W/Q

position So: V = W/Q = EQd /Q

d
V = Ed

E = V/d (Uniform fields)

Acceleration: gravitational and electrical

A falling ball An accelerating charge

starts at high starts at high

gravitational electrical
potential energy potential
energy
gravitational electric
field g field
mass m charge q +
height h
+ potential
difference V
gains gains
kinetic kinetic –
energy energy
ends at low ends at low
gravitational electrical
potential energy potential energy

+
gravitational electric
potential potential

ball falls down gravitational charge ‘falls down’ electrical

potential hill potential hill
ΔEp=mgΔh ΔW = QΔV
gain of kinetic energy = loss of potential energy = mgh gain of kinetic energy = loss of potential energy = qV

An electric field accelerates a charge as a gravitational field accelerates a mass

ΔEp=m gΔh

ΔW = Q ΔV
ΔEp=m EΔd

ΔW = Q ΔV

ΔV = E Δd

E = ΔV/Δd
Draw the forces acting on the drop

Identify the forces on a charge in an electric field

E

Can you come up with an expression

for the charge on the droplet?

Draw the forces acting on the drop

Identify the forces on a charge in an electric field

F= Eq

q= mg
E
Can you come up with an expression

for the charge on the droplet?

F= mg
How do we find the mass?

Identify the forces on a charge in an electric field

Terminal velocity!

Fd=6πrηv1 η = Viscosity of air

Worksheet
 Answers;
400 V +
3.2 × 10Š2 m 600 V
200 V Š

1)Orange lines above, with arrows

3)Green lines above, without arrows

5)E = V/d = 600 / 3.2 x 10-2 = 18,750 V m-1 = 1.9 x 104 V m-1 (2sf)

7)electric force upward = weight downward

EQ = mg
Q = mg/E = 1.8 x 10-15 x 9.81 / 1.9 x 104 = 9.4 x 10-19 C

11)9.4 x 10-19 / 1.6 x 10-19 = 5.9

Therefore, most likely number of extra electrons = 6.
 -1.591 × 10 -19
C

−1.6021764874 × 10 -19
C

?
Mohr, Peter J.; Taylor, Barry N.; Newell, David B. (2006-06-06). "CODATA
recommended values of the fundamental physical constants". Reviews of Modern
Physics 80: 633–730
Cargo Cult Science…
A term used by Richard Feynman to
describe work that has the
semblance of being scientific, but is
missing…
"a kind of scientific
integrity, a principle of
scientific thought that
corresponds to a kind of
utter honesty"

Compare and contrast Millikan’s methods with scientific

practice
“Millikan… …got an answer
which we now know not to be
quite right. It's a little bit off
because he had the incorrect
value for the viscosity of air.

Compare and contrast Millikan’s methods with scientific

practice
Why didn't they discover
the new number was
higher right away?

Compare and contrast Millikan’s methods with scientific

practice
“It's a thing that scientists are
ashamed of - this history - because
it's apparent that people did things
like this: When they got a number
that was too high above Millikan's,
they thought something must be
wrong - and they would look for
and find a reason why something
might be wrong. When they got a
number close to Millikan's value
they didn't look so hard.”

Compare and contrast Millikan’s methods with scientific

practice
It gets worse……
….
 Was Millikan Dishonest?
Millikan did not use all his data points
in his published articles.

Millikan said in his articles that he did

use all points.

How can both be true?

Compare and contrast Millikan’s methods with scientific

practice
 Was Millikan Dishonest?
Millikan's exclusions of data did not affect the final
value of e that Millikan obtained

That there was substantial "cosmetic surgery" that

Millikan performed which had the effect of
reducing the statistical error on e.

This enabled Millikan to quote the figure that he had

calculated e to better than 0.5%; in fact, it was to
within 2%.

The slightly larger uncertainty might have allowed

more disagreement with his results within the
physics community.
Compare and contrast Millikan’s methods with scientific
practice
 Is this ethically correct?

Would we have been more

likely to get a correct value
with all the info?

Compare and contrast Millikan’s

methods with scientific practice
 Describe the Millikan experiment
Identify the forces on a charge in an electric field
Apply the correct formulae to calculate charge
Compare and contrast Millikan’s methods with scientific
practice

And Finally
Write down:

One key thing you’ve learnt today

One question you’d like to ask me

One question I should ask the others to

check their learning