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OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS

AND SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

MILLIKAN OIL DROP APPARATUS


MODA01

DESCRIPTION
The Millikan Oil Drop Apparatus MODA01 is designed for student labs in modern physics to prove the discreteness of electric charges. It allows students to obtain the fundamental electric charge either by balancing the oil drop or by measuring its rise and fall velocities. The motions of the oil drops can be studied on an external CCD monitor or on a computer. The instrument consists of an oil drop chamber with a mercury lamp, a digital voltmeter, a CCD camera, an atomizer, and a digital timer. An external monitor with a scale that allows users to measure the motion of oil drops is included*. The product also includes a USB cable and special software. Data can be exchanged with a computer for control and analysis.
*The Millikan Oil Drop Apparatus is optionally available without the external monitor.

847-336-7556 www.unitedsci.com

COMPONENTS AND FUNCTIONS


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Figure 1- a

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Figure 1- b

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Refer to Figure 1 above


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Monitor with 1 cm scale and video cord: Makes oil drops visible Atomizer: Injects small oil droplets into the Oil Drop Chamber (6). Power Cord: Connects the unit to 110V AC source. Bubble Level: For leveling the unit. Video out jack: Connects the unit to the external monitor. Oil Drop Chamber: See Figure 2 for details. Power switch: Turns the unit on and off Polarity switch: Turns on the mercury lamp to change the drops charges by UV radiation Focus knob: Adjusts the focus plane of the microscope (11) to produce sharp oil drop images Reset switch: Synchronizes the unit with a computer for measurement Microscope: Generates magnified images of oil drops for the CCD camera CCD camera: Creates a video signal for the monitor (1) or for a computer CCD input jack: Connects the CCD camera power and video signal to the unit. Time Reset: Resets the reading of timer to zero. Timer start/stop: Starts and stops the manual timing of oil drops. Automatic measurement: Initiates computer-controlled measurement. Balance voltage switch: Turns on the balancing voltage set by (19) Up switch: Used with balancing voltage control (19) to change the voltage across plates. When pushed after a measurement, 280V DC is added to the set voltage to help lift the oil drops to the top for next measurement. Balancing voltage control: Sets the voltage across the plates. Voltage range is from 0 to 500V. Digital timer display: Shows the time for an oil drop to travel a certain distance Plate voltage display: Shows the voltage between the top and bottom plates. Not shown: USB connector on rear panel: Allows the unit to connect to a computer

847-336-7556 www.unitedsci.com

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