Millikan determined the charge on the electron by studying the static charges on oil drops falling in an electric field (Figure 2.5). A student carried out this experiment using several oil drops for her measurements and calculated the charges on the drops. She obtained the following data: Droplet Calculated Charge (C) A 1.60 * 10-19 B 3.15 * 10-19 C 4.81 * 10-19 D 6.31 * 10-19 (b) What conclusion can the student draw from these data regarding the charge of the electron?

Video transcript

Hi everyone here we have a question asking us to consider a hypothetical charge called new york. The charge of each drop was measured in new york Using the oil drop experiment, the oil drop experiment is an experiment to determine the charge of an electron. So we have oil drop a and its charge was negative 2.8 times 10 to the negative eight yorks will drop be negative 7.0 times 10 to the negative eight york's oil drop C negative 1.26 times 10 to the negative seventh yorks will drop d negative 9.8 times 10 to the negative eight yorks. And the question is what conclusion can be drawn from the stat of regarding the charge of electron? A the lowest common factor in all observed charges is the electronic charge. This is true. And if we look at our charges, we see that it has the lowest common factor of negative 1.4 times 10 to the negative 8th yorks. The the unit york does not work for the experiment. This is false. It works fine because the units don't matter. We're just concerned with the charge having a common factor and as we see, it does have a common factor. See the droplets carry the same amount of charge. This is false. They each have a different amount of charge that we can see on the data. The the lowest common factor in all the observed charges is the number of electrons. This is false. It is the charge of the electrons. So our answer here is a the lowest common factor and all the observed charges is the electronic charge. Thank you for watching. Bye!