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In 1909 Robert Millikan was the first to find the charge of an electron in his now-famous oil drop experiment. In the experiment tiny oil drops are sprayed into a uniform electric field between a horizontal pair of oppositely charged plates. The drops are observed with a magnifying eyepiece, and the electric field is adjusted so that the upward force q E on some negatively charged oil drops is just sufficient to balance the downward force m g of gravity. Millikan accurately measured the charges on many oil drops and found the values to be whole-number multiples of 1.6 × 10−19 C — the charge of the electron. For this he won the Nobel Prize. If a drop of mass 1.51837 × 10−12 kg remains stationary in an electric field of 1 × 106 N/C, what is the charge on this drop? The acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s 2 . Answer in units of C.

Respuesta :

Answer:

[tex]1.49\cdot 10^{-17}C[/tex]

Explanation:

The oil drop remains stationary when the electric force on it and the gravitational force are balanced, so we have:

[tex]F_E = F_G\\qE = mg[/tex]

where

q is the charge of the oil drop

E is the electric field strength

m is the mass of the drop

g is the acceleration due to gravity

here we have

[tex]E=1\cdot 10^6 N/C[/tex]

[tex]m=1.51837\cdot 10^{-12} kg[/tex]

[tex]g=9.8 m/s^2[/tex]

So the charge of the drop is

[tex]q=\frac{mg}{E}=\frac{(1.51837\cdot 10^{-12} kg)(9.8 m/s^2)}{1\cdot 10^6 N/C}=1.49\cdot 10^{-17}C[/tex]