Magnet and BB Analogy for Millikan's Oil-Drop Experiment

• Earl F. Pearson ^[1]
  1. [1] Middle Tennessee State University

     Middle Tennessee State University

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 83, Nº 9, 2006, pág. 1313
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This work describes the use of refrigerator magnets and BB's as an analogy to Millikan's oil-drop experiment. The mass of a single BB is determined without ever measuring the mass of one BB or determining the mass of a known number of BB's. This is analogous to the procedure used by Millikan to determine the charge of a single electron without measuring the charge of a single electron and without knowing how many electrons were included in any charge that he measured. The uncertain and random dividing of a common factor from the observed masses (charges) is avoided by observing that the smallest difference is apt to be the mass (charge) of a single BB (electron) as was actually done by Millikan in his classical experiment.