Unveiling the electron with oil drops

[@ngudududlamini252]

This is my new favorite channel

[@jkzero]

All right! Thanks for that and welcome to the channel! I am always curious to know what brings viewers to the channel, were you searching for something in particular or did the 'mighty algorithm' find you?

[@ngudududlamini252]

@@jkzero I liked and followed you after i was recommended that video about a plane avoiding a nuclear blast wave.ever since then I've never missed a single video . Bro,I like your content I'll be supporting you If I had any means but I'm just a broke dude from south african township. But I'll support you by liking and commenting. I love science content 👌

[@jkzero]

@@ngudududlamini252 thanks for sharing how you got here; and thanks for supporting the channel in other ways, your comments, likes, and sharing in other platforms is a great way to bring more traffic, no need to support financially, that is only for those who can. I appreciate the loyalty and I am glad you find the content of value.

[@chillphil967]

saying hello as well from detroit, Michigan! love the channel great content, watch every video :)

[@jkzero]

@@chillphil967 greetings to the Motor City, thanks for watching

[@felipemonteiro5877]

Most channels spew out the theory and try to make the math palatable, however they always skim over the most important part: the experiments. Science is fundamentally about understanding the natural world through observation, experimentation, and analysis. Sincerely, thank you for looking at it more carefully. It's how we ask nature questions!

[@jkzero]

I find most accounts of these stories to focus on the final result but I find the problems, the struggles, and the wild guesses fascinating and decided to share them here. Glad to find so many people moved by these stories and that don't shy away from some taste of the math behind.

[@shimrrashai-rc8fq]

Also, what is more exciting and memorable? Some obscure "F = qv x B" stuff, or to actually SEE what that means in front of your very eyes?! Note also that human memory works on emotional valence and association: you are much more likely to remember those more mathematical concepts if you can actually interact with them in some tangible way.

[@hedgehog3180]

The experiments are also often the most difficult part epistemologically since that's where you try to figure out what exactly your hypothesis means in reality and how you can translate the real world into math and what exactly you can figure out from this experiment. I think the brilliance involved in designing experiments is similar to the feeling you get when you solve a really hard puzzle because you often need to really think outside the box.

[@ElectronFieldPulse]

@@jkzero- Just found your channel, as a biochemist who doesn’t get to work on any physics related stuff, I simply love it! Keep up the great work!

[@jkzero]

@@ElectronFieldPulse thanks for your kind comment and welcome to the channel

[@nikospitr]

love these vids. Thank you, it s something completely different and much more original and interesting than the usual "happy smile" pop science we are bombarded with, here at the internet.

[@jkzero]

Glad you enjoy it! I am totally with you. When I was a physics student I learned the solutions to the problems of the time but I remember that the lack of context and details was quite unsatisfactory. I decided to dig deeper, read parts of the original papers, and I decided to share the details and found that the stories get even more fascinating.

[@clarencegreen3071]

As an undergraduate assigned to "work" in the physics department as a dust-rag boy and gopher, I was fortunate to do the oil drop experiment at my leisure. I spent hours watching the tiny points of light move up and down, and sometimes suddenly change the rate at which they moved. With one droplet, I calculated the change in charge to be that of one electron. One electron, I say. This was at East Tennessee State University in the early 60s. I'm forever grateful to the faculty for allowing me the opportunity to use the equipment as I chose. They were Marvin H. Dickerson, John C. Whitson, and Austin Graybeal. Mr. Graybeal was like a grandfather to me, and I shall never forget him. Thank you, Sir!

[@jkzero]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I was also lucky enough during my high-school years to get access to a fantastically well equipped physics lab and spent long hours reproducing experiments from a textbook, some of the most active years of learning by doing. Good times.

[@wafikiri_]

One electron. Whose nature we still ignore even though 129 years have trodded by since. I wish someone (I really wish it were me, but that isn't likely at all) had a Fantastic Idea and made experiments to test it and, as a result, we learned the nature of reality. Although own experiments aren't always necessary. After fifty-odd years trying, I finally fully understood the nature of cognition (in nervous systems, neural networks, microbial life, anywhere behaviour manifests), its mathematical representation (not as complex as I thought it would be), how exactly cognition lets individuals (even microbes!) have a more or less detailed mental world view to guide their behaviour, how the latter is structured, how learning works . . . . An amazing emergent physical property, cognition.

[@Nick_Tag]

yes when i did this it was attributed to drops sticking together, but the downside is that technicians set everything up for you.. A good education would allow you the time to set everything up from scratch and get stuck at the same places the masters did.

[@horacioguillermobrizuela4295]

¡Thank you so much! From now on I´ll refer to this experiment as "the Fletcher-Millikan Experiment"

[@jkzero]

I think that is appropriate, it is true that the brain behind the design of this clever experiment was Millikan but the execution and hard work was Fletcher, he deserves his share of the credit and I thought it was important to highlight these stories because in the end all great scientists in our textbooks were human, and as such some of the best and the worst side of human nature shows up. I want to show the human side of things too so people understand that in academia there are situations like this.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@jkzero Recently in my country there was a scandal about professors being credited as authors on papers that were really completely the work of their students where the professors didn't really do anything other than offer assistance.

[@AwkwardDemon]

The balance you maintain between theory, history, and narrative while going through these topics is seriously impressive, and I very much like your emphasis on the achievements and contributions of the greats who've been more-or-less overlooked by modern texts (like Fletcher). I'm looking forward to see what comes next!

[@jkzero]

Thanks for your kind feedback. When I was a physics student I learned the solutions to the problems of the time but I remember that the lack of context and details was quite unsatisfactory. Now that I have time, I decided to dig deeper, read parts of the original papers, and I decided to share the details and found that the stories get even more fascinating. Millikan, round 2 is coming soon.

[@hsenagrahdeers]

Why did it take me SO LONG to find this channel! Dr. Diaz, you are 3b1b of physics! Thanks for existing!

[@jkzero]

Hi, I am glad you made it here. Thanks for the compliment, it means a lot. I am always curious to know what brings viewers to the channel, were you searching for something in particular or did the 'mighty algorithm' find you?

[@Jacky_m_]

@@jkzeroin my case the fine structure video just appeared on my for you page since im a physicist and am always looking for videos like this since i am in highschool! Very good content!

[@jkzero]

@@Jacky_m_ thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the rest of the video series too

[@CaptainCalculus]

One of my favourite experiments: right up there with the Cavendish experiment for fiendishness

[@jkzero]

Dear Captain Calculus, tip of the hat for your continuous support. I had to search the meaning of the fiendishness. Academia is fertile soil for this kind of personalities.

[@santiospina4504]

I discovered your channel a couple hours ago and I'm simply in love. The historical details makes physics a lot more interesting.

[@jkzero]

Thanks for watching and the positive feedback, make sure to check the other videos and welcome to the channel. I am always curious to know what brings viewers to the channel, were you searching for something in particular or did the 'mighty algorithm' find you?

[@erenerdem4657]

Thanks for the series on concepts like that( especially quantum physics and calculus ideas underlying it). I want to find whether someone will found my quantum things before I announce them.

[@jamie9060]

I am so thankful to have found your channel! Came for the experiment explanation, but also found an emotional connection with Fletcher!

[@ihmejakki2731]

Love the little trivia on old notation practices!

[@jkzero]

you call it little trivial, I call it rant :D One things we always tell students is don't forget the units, and most of these old and historic papers show values with no units! I might have also included that rant because it tool me hours to confirm the units for Thomson's result.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@jkzero I had to use a physics textbook from the 80s recently and the author just skipped like half the steps in the derrivation of the Carnot efficiency without even making it clear. It was kinda maddening to try to reconstruct the derivation in a p,V diagram from scratch, but I assume he did this because most of the math needed for it wasn't part of high school curricula back then because of the lack of computers and CAS programs.

[@shimrrashai-rc8fq]

I remember I saw this demonstrated for me in one of the physics courses I took at my first college. My mouth must have been hanging as I realized that electrons - these things you only usually read about - here they were, playing right in front of my eyes!

[@jkzero]

Seeing those droplets go up and down is a very special moment, then reversing their motion by switching the polarity of the plates confirms that really they are suspended and moved by the electric field. This is really a fantastic experiment, a historic result, and a mind-blowing demo for students.

[@sphakamisozondi]

Your channel needs to blow up. Your content and how you present it, is very interesting

[@jkzero]

Thanks for the compliment, I hope to reach more people. For now I am happy with the appreciation of audience for the work and content. More coming soon.

[@artemgorodilov2696]

Just two weeks ago, did that experiment on physical laboratory course xDD. Nowadays, we're using cameras for capturing movement of oil drops on video, and then running them through python script, which'll get paths of individual drops by subtracting background from each frame on video and making drops look like a bright dot on a black screen. Then it'll fit them and obtain their velocities. Doing this for couple of voltages, plotting ionization level over charge, linear fit of all the stuff, and you reproduced magnificent 100 years old physics

[@jkzero]

Fascinating what we can do today. When I look back at these old but remarkable experiments I can only imagine what they would think of our technology. Do you post your result anywhere public? I would be curious to see the results of the replication of this beautiful experiment.

[@clarencegreen3071]

I'm impressed with the technology, but I cannot imagine that seeing a video of a falling droplet would evoke the same sense of connectivity as watching a droplet in real time with your own eyes. --Old guy (no smart phone)

[@jkzero]

@@clarencegreen3071 glad to have you in the channel; I agree with you, same happens in astronomy, I see mind-blowing images from CCD cameras but navigating the dark sky through an eyepiece is another experience.

[@artemgorodilov2696]

@@clarencegreen3071 Sure, but I think you're still experiencing that kind of experiment vibe when you're doing it. Cuz in my experimental setup, I was looking in the chamber by that camera. The only thing is that camera was recording videos also, and so after it was more about physics and some kind of preciseness of the result. I suppose that giving calculation and analysis of data (in some basic way like getting velocities of an oil drops from video) is good to give to outsource, to think more about physics, rather than desperately trying to measure it by looking at each of thousands of frames and comparing drops positions by your own. (I'm lazy 21st century astrophysics student who consider all of that ML stuff and programming in physics as a main instruments of scientist)

[@gametimewitharyan6665]

I have to read about this topic in the next chapter and I wanted to know about the details of the Milikan's experiments The video is a gold as always 🎉

[@jkzero]

Great timing, I am glad you liked the video. It ended in a cliffhanger; follow up coming soon.

[@alexanderschonfeld5879]

We performed this experiment in ap chem in high school in 1971 but simplified it by steadying/hovering the droplets , so viscosity of air would not be a factor. We also determined Avogadro's number with oleic acid droplet spread monomolecularly over a transparent water filled tray sitting on top of paper graph (squares) paper so we could estimate the area of the oilspread

[@fabienleguen]

High quality video on a poorly known (even by average scientists) milestone of science but yet very fondamendal. I felt the same jaw-drop moment after seeing your video on Planck derivation of his law. Only 700 views, your channel is clearly underrated ! I bet it will grow to an average of 10^5 views per vid / 10^6 subscribers in the near future. Keep it up and thank you very much for this very instructive content !

[@jkzero]

Thanks for the positive feedback, I cannot complain about the audience, I reached 20k subscribers and I have been making videos only for a few months. I am glad you find the content engaging, I love this kind of stories and my intention is to be able to transmit what I feel with them.

[@kwastek]

I remember Millikan experiment from the lab when I studied physics. I love that you are able to see such fundamental things by doing experiments with your own hands.

[@jkzero]

I love this period of physics history when tabletop experiments lead to such fundamental discoveries using cleverly designed experiments. For Millikan's case, all he used was Newton's second law and Stokes' law. Brilliant. New video coming soon: Millikan, round 2

[@shimrrashai-rc8fq]

It would be very interesting to determine just how much science you can actually verify empirically on your own at different price points.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@shimrrashai-rc8fq You can calculate the charge of the electron using a handful of LEDs of various colors and a variable power supply which would be a lot cheaper than this experiment. We did that in our class and got a result of something like 1.7E-19 C so for such a simple experiment it works pretty well.

I learned a lot from this video! thanks One thing that is normally not mentioned, is that Townsend and Thomson measured the electron charge before MIllikan, and got the value 1E-19 C (which compares pretty well with Millikan's results). If the previous result was not so bad, why was the community did not accept it? In books, you can often find people saying that Millikan was the FIRST, but this is wrong.

[@jkzero]

Great point! Thomson, Townsend, and Wilson had reported the value 10^{-19} C; however, their estimate used several assumptions and the uncertainties were quite large. The fact that they could observe droplet for very small amount of time (contrary to Fletcher-Millikan that could control their droplets at will) produced very unreliable results. They also assumed that each drop carried a single electron of charge; contrary to Millikan's idea of letting the droplets capture charges from the ionized air in any amount and then determine that the total charge was an integer multiple of e. The experiments of Thomson, Townsend, and Wilson were not less important, after all, they were Millikan's inspiration, but with Fletcher, Millikan designed a beautifully simple and insanely accurate experiment.

@@jkzero Thank you! This answer really clarified a lot. I have always been confused by this!

[@jkzero]

@ here is a brief and interesting article about the work of Thomson, Townsend, and Wilson and some comparison to Fletcher-Millikan www.nature.com/articles/131569a0.pdf

[@franciscoaguero9028]

Sos de lo mejor que vi jorge. Desde que vi el calculo de la masa critica me enamore del canal. Abrazo amigo!!!

[@jkzero]

Gracias Francisco, se agradece el apoyo a la distancia. La verdad lo paso muy bien creando estos videos y me alegra haber encontrado una audiencia. Se viene pronto la continuación que, comeo menciono al final del video, Millikan no paró aquí. Como alguien diría: ¡esto no para, loco!

[@cewkins721]

Great video! This is the first time i see an in depth explanation of this iconic experiment

[@jkzero]

Glad you liked it! Making this video with this level of detail has been on my list since the beginning. I find it fascinating, simple, and insanely precise. Millikan was a jerk but his experiments were beautiful and made history. Millikan round 2 coming soon.

[@rays2506]

Excellent presentation on one of the most important experiments in modern physics. Thanks for sharing. Millikan's oil drop experiment really resonates with me because in the early 1960s I did my MS in engineering physics on nucleation and growth of water droplets using specially designed Wilson cloud chamber with a very long sensitive time (~5 seconds). It took me and several undergraduates nearly a year to build the cloud chamber and do the measurements. Tiny water droplets in my chamber. Tiny oil droplets in Millikan's chamber.

[@jkzero]

Wow, thanks for sharing. This experiment is today a standard for physics undergraduates. There are great videos on KZbin showing the suspended droplets

[@jitenderkumaryadav6513]

This is such amazing science content doing justice to the maths, the experiment, the sources and binding all of them in a very good storytelling. I love this!!

[@jkzero]

I am glad you like the content and thanks for watching. I hope you come back for the follow up with Compton.

[@ericreiter1]

Good work. Thank you. It was Townsend in JJ Thomson's lab in 1897 that did the earliest drop balance method. JJ soon did his version. It is in Millikan's book, the Electron.

[@t850]

...in the end ego prevailed. Sad and unfortunately not so rare, but fortunately truth wasn't lost to the history. As for the experiment it truly is genius. So simple yet astonishingly accurate. It's interesting how they've managed to notice charge quantization at this "macroscopic" level. I guess particle size was small enought that a small carge variation could have noticable effect on the result..:D

[@jkzero]

Yeah, Millikan was a jerk (there are many other stories about him, this was not an isolated incident) but also brilliant designing simple and beautiful experiments reaching exquisite levels of accuracy and precision. There is a follow up video coming, as I said, Millikan was not done yet.

[@t850]

​ @jkzero ...it's ironical how we are tought to purchase science to expand our understanding of the universe (ourselves), but once it becomes a career it just becomes "currency" for social status improvement...

[@jkzero]

@@t850 I am so happy since I left academia; so many things are wrong there

[@t850]

@@jkzero ...whole system is upside down. Only thing that matters is production of scientific papers at any cost. It's not the curiosity that drives the scientific research but the quotas that scientists have to meet. Sad, but it is the truth. Even though you left academia, you still kept your enthusiasm high and math skills sharp. Put them to good use on the next video...;)

[@jkzero]

@@t850 the only thing that I miss from academia is teaching, I loved that and my students liked my style. I always loved taking beyond the content, I liked to share the stories behind, the people, the historical context... I could not shut up about it, I guess this is how this channel started

[@abrikos1100]

Thank you for video, historical details are truly interesting

[@jkzero]

Glad you like the video and thanks to you for watching. I find most accounts of these stories to focus on the final result but I find the problems, the struggles, and the wild guesses fascinating and decided to share them here. Glad to find so many people moved by these stories and that don't shy away from some taste of the math behind.

[@ethanfletcher9635]

It would make me so happy if there was ever a video on the Lorentz gamma factor. I never have figured out its derivation. Love these videos!

[@jkzero]

Thanks for your feedback, I am glad you find the content of value. A video analyzing Einstein's original paper on special relativity is on my to-do list.

[@NimrodTargaryen]

Did this many years ago in Universidad del Valley (Guatemala), I was so enthralled that lead me to experimental physics… what a joy it was 🎉… I continue the path with many LDV experiments

[@greese007]

I performed this experiment while an undergrad in phYSICS at Montana State U. After a few hours of peering through the microscope, it gave me a better appreciation for the patience and dedication of those scientists. We later referred to it as the Millikan Eyestrain experiment.

[@jkzero]

"Millikan Eyestrain experiment," that's a good one. I remember ready about Rutherford's gold-foil experiment and how he and his students would spent 30-45min in the dark to adjust their eyes before making measurements.

[@lepidoptera9337]

I don't remember it as having been half-bad. Maybe we had better optics. I remember being surprised how easily the experiment worked. I went in with the fear that it would be horribly sensitive, but it wasn't. We had trouble making droplets for a bit but after we got that going the measurements were quite easy.

[@rayoflight62]

Thank you for the Science, and the history of it. Greetings, Anthony

[@jkzero]

I am glad you liked the content, make sure to watch the other videos in this series, plenty of science, history, math, and drama. Thanks for watching!

[@karhukivi]

What makes this experiment all the more extraordinary is the apparatus was cobbled together from some things lying around like his wife's perfume spray and his son's telescope! There is a replica in the "Palais de la Decouverte" science museum in Paris The guide asked if anyone knew what it was for and nobody answered. Eventually I answered in my poor French and the guide asked me "are you a teacher?" so I replied "no, I'm a rubbish collector". It took them a few seconds to see I was joking!

[@jkzero]

"I'm a rubbish collector" that's a good one. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

[@thecwd8919]

The original apparatus is stored at the Musuem of Science and Industry in Chicago. It's one of the cooler but less noticeable exhibits.

[@jkzero]

I have visited this museum some years back. It is unfortunate that the Fletcher-Millikan apparatus doesn't look as impressive as it really is, it just look like an old pressure cooker. Its looks hides its historic relevance.

[@johnned4848]

Another great episode. Clear precise and fascinating. My only complaint is that I have to wait so long for the next one.

[@jkzero]

I appreciate the compliment. I get the fun experience of releasing a video and I can start working on the next, the research, the writing, it is a great experience. Next one already in production, Millikan comes for round 2

[@philoso377]

Nice video and presentation. Through the detailed and collective information presented in this video, can I begin to understand the (real) science methods involved in the experiment. That M&F didn’t isolated a single oil sphere in associate with a single electron (which some narrative implied they did) but to measure a large population of oil spheres of various sizes displacement velocity up/down until there is enough samples to show with confidence it follows a linear quantized incremental charge steps. The charge difference between the smallest and the next smallest charge samples of two seemingly identical oil spheres is the holy grail. That is a notable undertaking. Since we have no control the radius of each sample from one to the next, the initial state of charge, nor how many electrons was mounted.

[@alexandervoytov4966]

I used to study fog formation back in 1980x with ultrasound. One of my point was a gravity shaping droplets. In theory there is an influence shaping droplets out of spheres. In practice with my instruments I didn’t see that. Spheres were a good assumption.

[@jkzero]

Thanks for sharing your experience, it sounds amazing. Were you trying to make use of these deformed droplets in any way?

[@alexandervoytov4966]

@@jkzero That time I used to be a reseacher at area of fluorine chemistry as energy releasing with chemical reactions with hydrocarbons. I had created a hydrocarbon(kerosene, alcohol,etc) cloud first. The next step was to incert distributed fluoride powder into the hydrocarbon cloud to see the reaction. My milestone was to study droplets distribution by size inside the cloud with ultrasound generator. I used to develop some analytic model of such test. Droplets shape was a parameter. Droplets were smallest in the center of my cloud with some increase of size and decrease to vapour on the edge. 2 different models: 1. droplets have sperical shape, differen sizes; 2. droplets have gravitational shape, different sizes. Each model will reflect ultrasound little bit differently. Practically, sperical model described test well enough.

[@jkzero]

@@alexandervoytov4966 Thank you so much for sharing your story, it sounds like fascinating industrial work. I recently was involved in a project studying droplet size distributions for sprays and agricultural applications but my work was mostly as a statistical modeler rather than your more hands-on experience. Great to have in the channel, thanks for watching and, again, for sharing your experience. I am glad my video brought back some good memories.

[@GeoffryGifari]

Huh they used Stoke's law on drag force, which made it unnecessary to measure droplet radius with the microscope directly very clever

[@jkzero]

the use of Stokes' law was inspired by early experiments at J.J. Thomson's lab; but yeah, Millikan took it to another level and achieved insane levels of accuracy and precision.

[@Hans-ChristianSchwartz]

The level of detail was awesome. And even better, it was understandable : )

[@jkzero]

Thanks, I am glad you liked the video, make sure to check the others. I am always curious to know what brings viewers to the channel, were you searching for something in particular or did the 'mighty algorithm' find you?

[@Hans-ChristianSchwartz]

@@jkzero Yeah, wish I could say something profound, but the algorithm suggested you.

[@jkzero]

@@Hans-ChristianSchwartz Thanks for sharing and I am glad the algorithm is working, I hope you find the other videos of interest too and welcome to the channel.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

As a 10 year old, discovering science. I read it as *the Milkman experiment.*

[@jkzero]

Milkman is a standard joke every time the oil-drop experiment is described

[@Blu3B33r]

I didn't know about this experiment before. Thank you for sharing

[@jkzero]

glad you liked, thanks for watching

[@KipIngram]

Wow - this was a BRILLIANT experiment.

[@jkzero]

oh yes, it was. When people talk about the oil-drop experiment they usually say "yeah, Millikan suspended an oil drop and set electrostatic force equal to weight, and bam, you get the charge" but the experiment was way more clever that that.

[@Brunoscaramuzzi]

Keep posting that we will keep watching!!

[@jkzero]

all right!

[@feelthebluesgaming7630]

Great explanation and storytelling! I appreciate this as a teacher because I always seek to explain the details, but it can be hard to find. Can you recommend a good source that includes the rigorous details of such experiments?

[@jkzero]

Thanks, I'm glad you like the video and story. I miss teaching and this channel has been a way to do one of my favorite activities: talk about physics including historical aspects. I do not have a particular source, I like to read the original papers but sometimes they are too technical or use old-fashioned style that make them hard to read. In that case, a great source is papers in journals of history of science as well as teacher-oriented journals like the American Journal of Physics.

[@NondescriptMammal]

Excellent presentation! Very interesting to have a history of this with such a detailed description of the experiment. I often wonder how exactly such experiments were done, but usually the details are glossed over or omitted altogether, and it is not easy to find such descriptions as this.

[@jkzero]

When I was a physics student I learned the solutions to the problems of the time but I remember that the lack of context and details was quite unsatisfactory. Now that I have time, I decided to dig deeper, read parts of the original papers, and I decided to share the details and found that the stories get even more fascinating.

[@NondescriptMammal]

@@jkzero It is greatly appreciated! You described my exact frustration at the lack of context and details. You do a great service with this work, in my opinion. The historic perspective you provide not only makes the subject matter more interesting, it brings deeper meaning to it as well.

[@jkzero]

@@NondescriptMammal Millikan, round 2 coming soon

[@NondescriptMammal]

@@jkzero I look forward to it! I also like how you give proper credit to the experimental physicists whose names are so often forgotten to history, while the theoreticians bask in all the glory. It is nice to see their contributions are not always overlooked.

[@lepidoptera9337]

Millikan was one of two student experiments that I really enjoyed. Measuring a single electron with an oil droplet is such a wonderful thing.

[@jkzero]

True; although for me was the Franck-Hertz experiment the one that really gave me the chills when I was an undergraduate. I made a full video of it kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3StnWZjpa16q7c

[@lepidoptera9337]

@@jkzero Also cool. I generally find these "simple" experiments from the past more satisfying than the racks full of electronics that we used to build for our high energy physics detectors. I mean, it is satisfying to see physics data pouring in at gigabits per second, but it's a completely different thing to experience a fundamental physical effect "hands on" like the giants of science did in the past.

[@jkzero]

@@lepidoptera9337 I could not agree more; CERN and Fermilab are very cool but I prefer the old-fashioned, cleverly designed table-top experiments from the early 1900s.

[@lepidoptera9337]

@@jkzero Me, too. I bought a really cheap kiddie telescope once and modified it to experience how Galileo might have seen Jupiter's moons. Tough viewing, indeed. Galileo would probably have given an arm and a leg for my $12 Chinese 7x50 binoculars. I remember being a kid and watching all those cool laser physics images on tv. I so wanted to just see one in real life. Now I can buy a dozen laser diodes for the price of a burger on Amazon. Progress over the last 50 years has been ridiculously fast.

[@Unique-Concepts]

I love this channel!

[@jkzero]

thanks for watching

[@MrPoidapie]

I love Physics and your videos just make it even better.

[@jkzero]

I appreciate you nice feedback

[@fightingforcatalonia]

eres el padre. Acuerdate de mi cuando seas un goat de youtube

[@jkzero]

gracias; todos tus commentarios están publicados acá así que hay referencia para el futuro

[@koenraad4618]

In order to determine a precise value of the 'smallest' charge, Millikan and Fletcher must have observed the behavior of hundreds of oil droplets in a controlled electric field, and must have done hundreds of calculations. Although Fletcher got the bright idea to apply oil in stead of water, it was Millikan who designed the experiment/method and who had sufficient knowledge to analyse the observations/measurements. Fletcher should have been a co-author, but it was Millikan who deserved the Nobel price. A year before Fletcher's died, he filed a signed affidavit at a notary that confirmed the 'free energy' electrical device invented by Thomas Henry Moray worked as claimed (no cheating was observed/concluded by Fletcher). I believe that Fletcher's observations and conclusions about Moray's electrical device are correct, and this is a very big mystery.

[@lepidoptera9337]

Well, if something produces 50kW out of thin air, it's kind of hard to overlook. You won't be able to stay in the same room with it for longer than a few minutes. We can safely conclude that it didn't do that. :-)

[@koenraad4618]

@@lepidoptera9337 BS

[@lepidoptera9337]

@@koenraad4618 You clearly have no idea what 50kW of heat generation means, kid. ;-)

[@koenraad4618]

@@lepidoptera9337 more BS

[@zebo-the-fat]

Ohh... this brings back memories of physics classes at school (back in the dark ages!)

[@jkzero]

many former researchers have written to me to mentions something similar, apparently these old experiments and stories are not only fascinating but also quite nostalgic

[@PhilMoskowitz]

I never heard about Milikcan and Fletcher. Good information, thanks.

[@jkzero]

I am glad that you find the information useful; most physicists know about Millikan but Fletcher is completely unknown because his name didn't make it to the history books, thanks to Millikan.

[@felipemonteiro5877]

Quantum mechanics is beautiful, but the people behind it could be so awful.

[@jkzero]

yeah, this is a human endeavor and as such the best and the worst of human nature appears. Nightmare dramas are not the exception in academia, I saw so much mistreatment of people and abuse of power that I am glad I am not part of that environment anymore. Leaving academia was one of the best decisions. Anyway, Millikan was a jerk and he was not done, next part coming soon so stay tuned.

[@johnm.v709]

"Quantum Mechanics" - great

[@dziban303]

gracias

[@jkzero]

de nada, gracias por la visita.

[@KALE18]

Thanks you for your advice

[@fletcherreder6091]

Calling Harvey Fletcher by his last name makes this a rather surreal experience for me. "What did I do now?"

[@GeoffryGifari]

huh... why would oil droplets survive longer in air anyway? surface tension of water droplets gets disturbed by air humidity? what about mercury (and it being conductive metal)?

[@juanro22]

Water evaporates faster than oil, specially at those minuscule sizes.

[@jkzero]

to see the droplets they use a powerful lamp, which quickly evaporated the water droplets; if you check Millikan's 1911 paper, section 13 is about other substances used. They experimented with different types of oil and got consistent results. Mercury was proposed in the early stages but not pursued mostly for its high density, which would force the use of extremely tiny droplets and in this limit Brownian motion would ruins the measurements.

[@BenjaminGatti]

​@@jkzero add to this 1000v ? I can well imagine this gets toasty.

[@jkzero]

@@BenjaminGatti 1kV was just for the initial tests, later they ramped it up even more

[@johnbabu3640]

The story of Millikan and Fletcher still continues to this day in academia!!

[@jkzero]

sadly, you are right

[@mrshodz]

Great explanation. Keep it up.

[@jkzero]

Thanks, the follow-up story is published now

[@reneradojcic]

Thanks!

[@jkzero]

Thanks so much for your very generous support!

[@connormcmk]

Thanks!

[@jkzero]

Thanks so much for supporting me to keep making these videos!

[@cafefikar]

Esta buenisimo el video, habia visto una explicación en el universo mecanico pero ahora entendí que la masa no afecta por stokes. Creo tienes acento chileno?. Bcan los extractos de los papers. Ese software q lo he visto en 3blue tambien es muy bacan. Te sigo compadre! Felicitaciones buen trabajo

[@jkzero]

Gracias por la visita y me alegra que te gustara el video, y gracias por el sub. Aunque llevo más de 15 años fuera de Chile, ciertas cualidades vocales siempre revelan el origen. Dale un vistazo al resto de la serie sobre el desarrollo de la mecánica cuántica kzbin.info/aero/PL_UV-wQj1lvVxch-RPQIUOHX88eeNGzVH

[@supreetsahu1964]

Did millikan really disprove any einstein work or was that a joke?

[@jkzero]

The end of the video was intended as a cliffhanger but no joke. That was Millikan next goal: design another high-precision experiment to prove that Einstein's quantum theory was nonsense. You can guess the outcome of that experiment. A second part on Millikan coming soon.

[@supreetsahu1964]

​@@jkzero got it 👍

[@aymanmansoori8936]

Wow, I really did not have any idea that there was another scientist behind the measuring pf the charge of the electron. Even in school textbooks, only Millikan's name is mentioned.

[@jkzero]

It is not surprising that Millikan appears with all the credit, firstly the story of Fletcher is quite unknown, plus textbook tend to simplify the stories for the sake of simplicity

[@padraiggluck2980]

I read years ago that Millikan averaged ~900 measurements to get his famous result.

[@jkzero]

In his 1911 paper, Millikan refers to hundreds of droplets but I could imagine a few extra hundreds for his final 1913 paper

[@jerrycornelius5986]

Very interesting

[@johnm.v709]

Sir, - Electron model On 4 foot stone nearing completion.

[@hedgehog3180]

0:41 We did that experiment in my physics class.

[@jkzero]

yeah, I remember doing that experiment to deflecting electrons to determine their mass-to-charge ratio

[@yubelowme3280]

My guy doin god's work right here

[@jkzero]

thanks for that, just doing what I enjoy

[@kisho2679]

How can electrons and protons be separated?

[@jkzero]

you can ionize hydrogen

[@kisho2679]

@@jkzero yes thx. what are the methods and technologies to achieve this?

[@jkzero]

@@kisho2679 at CERN they pass a high-voltage discharge on hydrogen gas to separate the electron from the protons that they inject into the LHC www.lhc-closer.es/taking_a_closer_look_at_lhc/0.proton_source

[@cfu11er]

There's a wonderful episode (they all are, for those unfamiliar) of The Mechanical Universe dedicated to the Oil Drop Experiment kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYbGYmaHbah5adU

[@jkzero]

thanks for sharing this; I took the image of the Wilson cloud chamber from that episode, it is in fact listed on the list of credits. And I fully agree: The Mechanical Universe is a fantastic series

[@boazbrisker81]

Great video 🙏🏻

[@jkzero]

I am glad you liked the content and thanks for watching. I am always curious to know what brings viewers to the channel, were you searching for something in particular or did the 'mighty algorithm' find you?

[@khiemgom]

This is just a joke but are you taking inspiration from the a level course because all of your recent vids are somehow related to my physic a level paper lol. Thks for that ig

[@jkzero]

I'm glad that the content in the channel is somehow aligned with your studies, I hope the presentation was clear and useful

[@khiemgom]

@@jkzero it was rlly helpful and definitely better than the handed down formula approach to teaching in the course book

[@khiemgom]

@@jkzero tho i have a question, how can the velocity of the drop be determined accurately

[@jkzero]

@@khiemgom brilliant!

[@jkzero]

@@khiemgom they had a graduated viewer so they could count the number of steps (a few millimeters) in a given time, they literally used hand-held stop watches, one each (Millikan and Fletcher) to crosscheck each other's measurements.

[@gojosatoruisdead]

we got electrons oiled up before GTA 6.

[@jkzero]

I had to google the meaning of GTA 6 and now feel old

[@tiredironrepair]

Ah yes. Michelson & Moreley When they proved the Earth to be motionless and level. Oh wait, level was the Old Bedford experiment

[@josephd.4890]

9 The michaelson morley experiment had terrible flaws

[@lepidoptera9337]

Please explain in great length and detail. ;-)

[@werre2]

I spontaneously clapped my hands at 08:30 mark

[@jkzero]

may I ask what gave you such joy?

[@KipIngram]

Oh, leaving Fletcher off of the paper was a jerk move.

[@jkzero]

Fully agree. I learned about this story after knowing about the other stories about Millikan so I didn't surprised me, but sadly this kind of behavior is quite common in academia.

[@michaelrtreat]

The politics of science at work.

[@jkzero]

that's right, as most human endeavors egos and abuse of power play a role

[@Yezpahr]

Here's a comment for a boost of El Go Rhythm.

[@jkzero]

highly appreciated

[@gametimewitharyan6665]

9:12 I notice smth :D

[@empty-me]

wow

[@BOBLAF88]

Maybe the ego is a quantum particle🙄🫥

[@jkzero]

good one; following your comment I have the following proposal: the egotron field, which could be measured in units called "kans" or in its smaller units "millikans" /s

[@danamarcy5414]

Millikin is a typical arrogant academic only interested in self agrandisement. Poor Fletcher the forgotten man. Bad Science. Dana Marcy

[@brucemcpherson8832]

Worse still he faked his results and then lied about it " Awkwardly, an examination of Millikan's private laboratory notebooks indicates that he did not in fact include every droplet for which he recorded data. He published the results of measurements on just 58 drops, whereas the notebooks reveal that he studied some 175 drops in the period between November 11th, 1911 and April 16th, 1912. In a classic case of cooking, the accusation goes, he reported results that supported his own hypothesis of the smallest unit of charge and discarded those contrary results that would have supported Ehrenhaft's position. And, to make matters very much worse, he lied about it. Millikan's 1913 paper contains this explicit assertion: "It is to be remarked, too, that this is not a selected group of drops, but represents all the drops experimented upon during 60 consecutive days, during which time the apparatus was taken down several times and set up anew." (Emphasis in the original). Thus, Millikan is accused of cheating and then compounding his cheating by lying about it in one of the most important scientific papers of the 20th century."

[@jkzero]

unfortunately, this is a common behavior in academia until this day

[@jkzero]

I am aware of these accusations against Millikan; however, for I have read, careful examination of the notebooks and experimental notes revealed that there was no misconduct and the removed data were scientifically justified.

[@NimrodTargaryen]

Millikan was an AZZ…

[@jkzero]

yup, and he got worse with the years (check the video on the second great experiment by Millikan kzbin.info/www/bejne/nILdmqWhp72Crs0)

[@johnaugsburger6192]

Thanks

[@jonludwig8233]

Thanks!

[@jkzero]

Thanks so much for supporting me to keep making these videos!