Discovering the Charge of an Electron

An Investigation through the Millikan Oil Drop

Experiment

000251-0221

Date: April 5, 2024

Contents

I Introduction 2

II Background 2

III The Research Question 2

IV Deriving the Equation 3

V Raw Data 5

VI Processed Data 7

VIIGraph 10

VIIIConclusion 10

1
I Introduction

Electricity is like magic, as a simple switch click can make light appear or disap-
pear. Most of the technology we have today in this modern world is powered by
electricity. I was fortunate to study electricity in my physics class and surround
myself with friends with the same interests. When I was told to research an IA
exploration of my interest, I went directly to electrons, as I remember pondering
how exactly the electron functions. When searching the web for a reason, I learned
about the electron having a specific charge, but I started to question how exactly
we know this value.
At first, I was wondering if one could find the charge of the electron via a
circuit. Although one could theoretically solve it, finding the drift velocity of an
electron can vary depending on the electron itself. After searching online, I found
the Millikan Oil Drop experiment.

II Background

III The Research Question

This exploration establishes the charge of the electron by replicating the Millikan
Oil Drop Experiment.
I used an online simulation for the Millikan Oil Drop experiment, as replicating
the experiment in person is costly and allows us to reduce some uncertainty.

2
 Figure 1: Electron In equlibrium

IV Deriving the Equation

I used the online ”thephysicsaviary” website that contained the Millikan Oil Drop
Lab experiment.
The online simulation allowed for at least one droplet to remain in equilibrium
while the other charges were attracted by the two charged plates.
For the one particle in equilibrium, the force upon it is 0, and it can be expressed
as Fg = Fe .

mg = qE

As we do not know the electric field but we know the voltage (V ) and separation
between the planes (d), we can substitute V /d for E:

qV
mg =
d

The weight of the droplets also varied as they had different radii but similar
densities.

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Density is expressed as:

mass
ρ=
volume

Which can be rewritten as:

mass = ρ × volume

M g can then be better expressed as:

4
Fg = πr3 × ρ × 9.8
3

All of this can be rewritten as:

4 3 d
πr × ρ ×
3 V

The density of the charges was given to be 900 kg/m3 .

The radius of the charges varied with each particle.
The gravity was replaced with a constant value of 9.8m/s.
The distance between the two plates was 0.003m.
The newline ”V” is expressed as Voltage.

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V Raw Data

The raw data collected was from the online simulation. As the oil drops were
dispersed inside the electric field of the plates, there was a singular charge in
equilibrium, and I wrote down the voltage and radius of the charge in an Excel file.
I repeated the trial 24 times, as I wanted to get over 18 to reduce uncertainty
and include multiple points to verify.
The uncertainty in voltage will be ignored in the calculation as it is very low,
and the simulation has been programmed to have a very low uncertainty.

Figure 2: Enter Caption

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Trial Voltage (V) ± 0.01 Radius (nm)
1 14.1 550
2 19.7 380
3 18.5 510
4 10.3 350
5 14.4 440
6 19.7 440
7 13.9 430
8 16.0 410
9 13.6 340
10 18.0 470
11 13.3 460
12 17.2 560
13 12.2 370
14 15.5 450
15 14.6 440
16 15.5 410
17 15.2 510
18 15.8 360
19 18.9 380
20 10.2 470
21 17.0 420
22 10.9 450
23 13.6 490
24 16.0 540

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VI Processed Data
Voltage (V) Charge (C)

14.1 1.31 × 10−18

19.7 3.09 × 10−19
18.5 7.95 × 10−19
10.3 4.61 × 10−19
14.4 6.56 × 10−19
19.7 4.79 × 10−19
13.9 6.34 × 10−19
16.0 4.77 × 10−19
13.6 3.20 × 10−19
18.0 6.39 × 10−19
13.3 8.11 × 10−19
17.2 1.13 × 10−18
12.2 4.60 × 10−19
15.5 6.52 × 10−19
14.6 6.47 × 10−19
15.5 4.93 × 10−19
15.2 9.67 × 10−19
15.8 3.27 × 10−19
18.9 3.22 × 10−19
10.2 1.13 × 10−18
17.0 4.83 × 10−19
10.9 9.27 × 10−19
7
13.6 9.59 × 10−19
16.0 1.09 × 10−18
 From the previous equation, I was able to make a program that solved for the
charge by utilizing the formula and inputting the Voltage and its corresponding
radius.
In the processed data, most of the charges are 10−19 , that is similar to the
exponent of a singular charge.
By using the equation q = ne to find the number of electrons, we can use the
worldwide standard value of charge to find the integer here.

q = ne

q
Can be rewritten as n = e

In using a program again, we can find the number of electrons throughout all
the data tested.

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Charge (C) Number of Electrons

1.31 × 10−18 9
3.09 × 10−19 2
7.95 × 10−19 5
4.61 × 10−19 3
6.56 × 10−19 5
4.79 × 10−19 3
6.34 × 10−19 4
4.77 × 10−19 3
3.20 × 10−19 2
6.39 × 10−19 4
8.11 × 10−19 6
1.13 × 10−18 8
4.60 × 10−19 3
6.52 × 10−19 5
6.47 × 10−19 5
4.93 × 10−19 4
9.67 × 10−19 7
3.27 × 10−19 3
3.22 × 10−19 3
1.13 × 10−18 8
4.83 × 10−19 4
9.27 × 10−19 6
9.59 × 10−19 6
9
1.09 × 10−18 7
 Using these values I can create a graph and use the slope to find the experimental
charge of an electron by its best fit.

VII Graph

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Number of Electrons

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4

Charge (C) ·10−18

Based on the slope of the graph, the value is 7 × 1018 C−1 .

For the proper notation, we can write 1
7×1018
, which is 1.42 × 10−19 .

VIII Conclusion
1.42−1.6
The error percentage of this experiment I conducted was 1.6
= 11.3%.
Although this percent error seems high for a simulation, looking back at the
experiment, there could have been other parts that affected the electron, such as
the drag force.

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 Along with this, when measuring the radius of the charge, there could have
been a parallax error that affected the calculation as a whole.
This experiment overall showed me that the charge of an electron is in the range
of 10−19 and between 0.4-0.6. Milligan’s experiment for the charge of the electron
was precise and my experiment showed similar results to his.

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