Question

When performing an.experiment similar to Millikan's oil drop, a student measured the following load magnitudes: 3.26x10 ^-19 C 5.09x10 ^-19 C 1.53x10 ^-19 C 6.39x10 ^-19 C 4.66x10 ^-19 C I used these measurements to find the charge on the electron

Answer 1

Answer:

1.6 x 10⁻¹⁹ C

Explanation:

Let us arrange the charges in the ascending order and round them off as follows :-

1.53 x 10⁻¹⁹ C   → 1.6x 10⁻¹⁹ C

3.26 x 10⁻¹⁹C   → 3.2 x 10⁻¹⁹ C

4.66 x 10⁻¹⁹C   → 4.8 x 10⁻¹⁹ C

5.09 x 10⁻¹⁹C   → 4.8 x 10⁻¹⁹ C

6.39 x 10⁻¹⁹C   → 6.4 x 10⁻¹⁹ C

The rounding off has been made to facilitate easy calculation to come to a conclusion and to accommodate error in measurement.

Here we observe that

2 nd charge is almost twice the first charge

3 rd and 4 th charges are almost 3 times the first charge

5 th charge is almost 4 times the first charge.

This result implies that 2 nd to 5 th charges are made by combination of the first charge ie if we take e as first  charge , 2nd to 5 th charges can be  written as 2e,  3e ,3e and 4e. Hence e is the minimum charge existing in nature and on electron this minimum charge of  1.6 x 10⁻¹⁹ C  exists.