Millikan's Oil Drop

What was the primary objective of Millikan's oil drop experiment?

• To determine the speed of an electron

• To calculate the mass of an electron

• To measure the charge of an electron

• To observe the behavior of oil droplets in a vacuum

Why were oil droplets used in Millikan's experiment?

2 correct answers

• Because they evaporate quickly

• Because they can be easily charged

• Because they are visible under a microscope

What was the significance of Millikan's oil drop experiment on atomic theory?

• It disproved the existence of atoms

• It confirmed the quantization of electric charge

• It showed that electrons have negligible mass

• It proved that atoms are indivisible

How did Millikan calculate the charge of an electron in his experiment?

• By measuring the speed of falling oil droplets

• By observing the behavior of oil droplets in a magnetic field

• By balancing the gravitational and electric forces acting on the oil droplets

• By counting the number of electrons in an oil droplet

What role does the gravitational force play in Millikan's oil drop experiment?

• It is negligible and can be ignored

• It helps to charge the oil droplets

• It acts downward, pulling the oil droplets towards the earth

• It is used to calculate the speed of electrons

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How is the mass of an electron calculated using the data from Millikan's oil drop experiment?

• By dividing the charge of an electron by its speed

• By using the charge-to-mass ratio of an electron

• By measuring the volume of an oil droplet

• It cannot be directly calculated from this experiment

Why is the charge of an electron considered quantized as demonstrated by Millikan's experiment?

• Because it can take on any value

• Because it only takes on discrete values

• Because it is directly proportional to the mass of an electron

• Because it varies with the size of the oil droplet

What impact did Millikan's oil drop experiment have on the scientific community?

• It led to the discovery of the neutron

• It confirmed the existence of quantized electric charge

• It disproved the atomic theory

• It showed that gravity affects electrons more than protons

Millikan determined that

• the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s²

• the charge of an electron is -1.60 * 10^-19 C

• the universal gravitational constant is 6.67 * 10^-11 m³/kgs²

• everything is relative

In order to equate the two forces, the oil drop had to be

• stationary

• moving upward

• moving downward

• moving diagonally

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