SMRTR Science & EngineeringOct 5, 2025Medium

The Millikan Oil Drop Experiment to Determine the Charge of an Electron

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Robert Millikan and Harvey Fletcher successfully measured the charge of a single electron in their famous 1909 oil drop experiment by suspending tiny charged oil droplets between electric plates. They found that electron charge equals 1.6 x 10^-19 Coulombs, establishing it as the elementary electric charge unit that all objects contain in integer multiples.

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