PHYS 199M Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Oil Drop Experiment, Robert Andrews Millikan, Black-Body Radiation
Document Summary
Robert millikan: american, determined the charge of the electron in his oil drop experiment in 1909. Some controversy about selectivity of data: tried to prove einstein"s photoelectric effect. Max planck: musician, suggested quantization to explain blackbody radiation. Understanding the spectrum of radiation coming from a perfectly absorbing emitter as it changes with temperature. Like a white hot" piece of iron. Postulated that the energy was only emitted in multiples of hf. The energy was in steps"; wasn"t continuous: reluctant revolutionary, originator of quantum theory. Albert einstein: most famous scientist ever, 1905: miracle year. Published 4 papers, each regarded as life-changing: published more than 300 scientific publications, played a short but key role in atomic bomb development, 4 papers in 1905. Radom motion of very small particles in a fluid: described mathematically as the jostling of atoms in the fluid. Final conclusion of the existence of atoms.