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Robert A. Millikan. By: Taylor Taschner Brianna Flattery. Personal Background Information. Robert A. Millikan was born on March 22, 1868 in Morrison, Illinois. He was the second son of Reverend Silas Franklin Millikan and Mary Jane Andrews.
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Robert A. Millikan By: Taylor Taschner Brianna Flattery
Personal Background Information • Robert A. Millikan was born on March 22, 1868 in Morrison, Illinois. • He was the second son of Reverend Silas Franklin Millikan and Mary Jane Andrews. • His grandparents were pioneer settlers in the Middle West. • Robert attended Maquoketa High School in Iowa. • After working as a court reporter he went to Oberlin College in Ohio in 1886. • His favorite subjects were Greek and Mathematics. • After graduation in 1891, he took two years of elementary physics.
More Personal Information • In1893 after getting his Masters Degree in Physics, he went to Colombia University. • In 1895 he received his Ph.D. • Robert A. Millikan died on December 19, 1953 Robert A. Millikan
Scientific Research and Interests • From the 1920’s to the 1940’s Robert Millikan compared the intensity of cosmic rays at various latitudes and altitudes. • The data Millikan had collected helped scientists study how the earth's magnetic field deflects cosmic rays from outer space. • Robert A. Millikan discovered the charge of the electrons by his famous experiment called the Oil Drop Experiment. • The Oil Drop Experiment was when an atomizer sprayed droplets of oil into an upper chamber where then some of the droplets fell through a hole in the upper chamber to the lower chamber. • He then used rays of voltage to see what would happen to the electrons once a voltage was in use. • When the voltage was on he observed that the atoms lost electrons and caused them to either stay still or float upward, whereas if the voltage was off the electrons would sink to the bottom of the lower chamber.
Video Presentation • http://cwx.prenhall.com/petrucci/medialib/media_portfolio/text_images/004_MILLIKANOIL.MOV • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMfYHag7Liw
Major Contributions/ Discoveries • He discovered the charge of electrons, which is negative, which then the research for the atom was taken to a new level. • The experiment know as the Oil Drop Experiment helped determine the charge of the electron. • H.A. Wilson came up with the idea with a water droplet not an oil droplet, but Millikan changed it to an oil droplet.
The Electronic Charge e-= 1.6x 10^-19 coulombs
Study of an Atom! • Without knowing the charge of an electron we wouldn’t know how many electrons are in an atom because you need to know the number of protons and the charge. • Atoms would only be positive if the electronic charge wasn’t discovered. • We wouldn’t be studying electrons if there was no such thing as an electronic charge today. The Electron
Bibliography • Nobelprize. (n.d.). Biography. In Robert A. Millikan-Biography. Retrieved October 7, 2010, from Nobel Prize website: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/lau reates/1923/ millikan-bio.html • World of Physics, Gale. (2006). Robert A. Millikan. Retrieved October 7, 2010, from ICONN database. • Prentice Hall, Inc. (n.d.). Millikan Oil Drop Experiment. Retrieved from http://cwx.prenhall.com/ petrucci/medialib/media_portfolio/text_images/004 _MILLIKANOIL.MOV • [The Atom] [Picture on web]. (2004, September 19). Retrieved from http://www.chemistryland.com/ ElementarySchool/BuildingBlocks/BuildingElements. html