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The Physics Teacher -- September 2009 -- Volume 47, Issue 6, pp. 374

The ‘Nut-Drop‘ Experiment—Bringing Millikan's Challenge to Introductory Students

Lowell I. McCann and Earl D. Blodgett

University of Wisconsin — River Falls, River Falls, WI

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One of the difficulties in teaching 20th-century physics ideas in introductory physics is that many seminal experiments that are discussed in textbooks are difficult or expensive for students to access experimentally. In this paper, we discuss an analogous exercise to Millikan's oil-drop experiment that lets students experience some of the physics involved in the experiment and some of the difficulties Millikan faced.

© 2009 American Association of Physics Teachers

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

physics education, educational aids, laboratory techniques, drops, velocity, electric fields, parameter estimation, history

PACS

History
Online Aug 2009

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0031-921X (print)  

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Association of Physics Teachers

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3204120

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  6. Anthony Papirio, Jr., Claude M. Penchina, and Hajime Sakai, “Novel approach to the oil-drop experiment,” Phys. Teach. 38, 50–51 (Jan. 2000)PHTEAH000038000001000050000001.
  7. Steve Brehmer, “Millikan without the eyestrain,” Phys. Teach. 29, 310 (May 1991)PHTEAH000029000005000310000001.
  8. Arthur G. Rouse, “Millikan oil-drop experiment—A demonstration model,” Am. J. Phys. 22, 637–638 (Dec. 1954)AJPIAS000022000009000637000001. [ISI]
  9. Dan MacIsaac, “Websites for teaching high school and introductory college modern physics topics,” Phys. Teach. 45, 124 (Feb. 2007)PHTEAH000045000002000124000001.
  10. http://teachers.web.cern.ch/teachers/archiv/HST2000/teaching/expt/standard/standard.htm.
  11. http://ed.fnal.gov/samplers/hsphys/activities/millikantchr.html.
  12. Earl F. Pearson, “Magnet and BB analogy for Millikan's oil-drop experiment,” J. Chem. Educ. 83, 1313–1316 (Sept. 2006).
  13. Doris Eckey, “A Millikan oil drop analogy,” J. Chem. Educ. 73, 237-238 (March 1996).
  14. One source for such a pipe is McMaster-Carr (www.mcmaster.com), part number 49035K91.
  15. Wheaton part number 209124SP, 15-ml amber-colored HDPE narrow-mouth bottle. VWR International catalog number: 16155-124; www.vwr.com.



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