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Millikan's experiment revisited. Description of the Millikan experiment using the mass-charge force

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It may be that Millikan’s classic oil drop experiment is not driven by the force of gravity, which acts in opposition to the electric force, but that it is rather the mass-charge force that pulls the charged droplets of oil down to earth. Accordingly, the force of gravity would have only an extremely small effect in opposition to the electric force, and the mass-charge force would act as the major opposing force to the electric force. Thereby the mass charge force is the force between the earth's mass and the charge of the oil droplets. This force is believed to act in opposition to the electric force and as an opposing force to the Stokes frictional force. We show that this novel interpretation of the Millikan experiment leads to identical results and an identical value for the elementary charge e as the original interpretation conducted by Millikan.

Keywords: Elementary Charge; Millikan’s Experiment

Document Type: Research Article

Publication date: 01 December 2016

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  • Physics Essays has been established as an international journal dedicated to theoretical and experimental aspects of fundamental problems in Physics and, generally, to the advancement of basic knowledge of Physics. The Journal's mandate is to publish rigorous and methodological examinations of past, current, and advanced concepts, methods and results in physics research. Physics Essays dedicates itself to the publication of stimulating exploratory, and original papers in a variety of physics disciplines, such as spectroscopy, quantum mechanics, particle physics, electromagnetic theory, astrophysics, space physics, mathematical methods in physics, plasma physics, philosophical aspects of physics, chemical physics, and relativity.
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