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Robert Andrews Millikan March 22, 1868 in Morrison, llinois. Millikan was an American experimental physicist who is commonky known for is great accurate measurment of the charge of the electron his his photoelectric effect. Millikan went to high school in Maquoketa,Iowa. Millikan received a BSc in the from Oberlin College in 1891 and his DSc in physics from Columbia Uniersity in 1895. At Caltech his research focused on the study of cosmic rays. Millikan thought his cosmic ray photons were the "birth cries" of new atoms continually being created by God to interact entropy and prevent heat death. Robert Millikan was Vice Chairman of the National Research Council during World War I. During that time, he helped to develop anti-submarine and meteorological devices. Millikan died of a heart attack in his home in San Marino, Calif. on December 19, 1953.
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historical background on the scientist
- He used the oil drop experiment to find the charge of an electron.
- He his also known for his contributions of work on the photoelectric effect.
- He found a way to calculate mass of electrons and and positively charged atoms.
Experimental Design/Data collection
What Millikan did was to put a charge on a tiny drop of oil, and measure how strong an applied electric field had to be in order to stop the oil drop from falling. Since he was able to work out the mass of the oil drop, and he could calculate the force of gravity on one drop, he could then determine the electric charge that the drop must have. By varying the charge on different drops, he noticed that the charge was always a multiple of -1.6 x 10 -19 C, the charge on a single electron. This meant that it was electrons carrying this unit charge.
Conclusion and contributions to atomic theory.
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