Question

Part b - the effect of an electric field (voltage) on a negatively charged oil droplet in the millikan oil droplet experiment, the oil is sprayed from an atomizer into a chamber. the droplets are allowed to pass through the hole into the chamber so that their fall can be observed. the top and bottom of the chamber consist of electrically charged plates. the upper plate is positively charged, and the lower plate is negatively charged. x rays are introduced into the chamber so that when they strike the oil droplets, the droplets will acquire one or more negative charges. the electric field (voltage) is applied to the metal plates. watch the animation and identify the effects of an electric field on the motion of a negatively charged oil droplet. consider the gravitational force as fg and the electric force as fe. all the other forces acting on the oil droplet can be ignored as their effect on the motion of the oil droplet is negligible. check all that apply.

Answer 1

There will be two dominant forces acting on the oil droplets. The first is the weight of the oil droplets, which will cause them to move downwards in the chamber. The other is the force of attraction the droplets will experience due to the positively charged plate and their own negative charge. The magnitude of the resultant force, which will be equivalent to the difference of these forces, will dictate whether the net movement of the droplet is downwards or upwards.