Millikan oil-drop experiment: Quick Facts

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Photos and Videos

Diagram of the Millikan oil-drop experiment showing a chamber with oil droplets sprayed from an atomizer, falling between two charged metal plates. A light source and viewing microscope are used to observe the droplets, which are influenced by electric and ionizing radiation to measure their charge.

Robert Millikan's method for measuring the charge of an electron

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Topics

charge conservation electron charge

Key People

Robert Millikan

Robert Millikan

American physicist

Italian-born physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi draws a diagram at a blackboard with mathematical equations. circa 1950.

Physics and Natural Law