In Millikan's experiment, the oil droplets acquire one or more negative charges by combining with the negative charges that are produced from the ionization of air by X rays. By measuring the charges on the oil droplets, he calculated the charge on a single electron as - 1.60*10-19 C. The charge on any negatively charged oil droplet is always a whole-number multiple of the fundamental charge of a single electron. If Millikan was measuring the charge on an oil droplet with 4 negatively charged electrons on it, what charge would he have measured on the droplet?

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Chemistry

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31 January, 11:41

In Millikan's experiment, the oil droplets acquire one or more negative charges by combining with the negative charges that are produced from the ionization of air by X rays. By measuring the charges on the oil droplets, he calculated the charge on a single electron as - 1.60*10-19 C. The charge on any negatively charged oil droplet is always a whole-number multiple of the fundamental charge of a single electron. If Millikan was measuring the charge on an oil droplet with 4 negatively charged electrons on it, what charge would he have measured on the droplet?

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Answers (1)

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Crystal Johnston · Answer 1

-6.4x10⁻¹⁹ C

Explanation:

The elementary charge of one electron is - 1.60x10⁻¹⁹C, so each electron has its charge, and a sample with more than one electrons will have a multiple of its charge, which is proportional to the number of electrons. So, if the oil droplet had 4 electrons, thus the charge will be four times the elementary charge:

4 * (-1.60x10⁻¹⁹) C = - 6.4x10⁻¹⁹ C