Millikan determined the unit charge of the electron in 1909 with his oil drop experiment. In his oil drop experiment, he sprayed drops of oil charged from friction into a tube and then dropped it in between a positively charged plate and a negatively charged plate. He changed it until the force of gravity and the pull from the magnet were equal. From this he figured out the exact charge of an election. He found out that the answer was always a multiple of 1.60x10^-19C.
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This is how Millikan set up his oil drop experiment. Somehow he had to get the oil to suspend in the air.
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He found out that the charge of an electron was always a multiple of 1.60x10^-19C.
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