Why Was Millikan Discovery Important

Millikan’s experiment is important because it established the charge on an electron. Millikan used a very simple a very simple apparatus in which he balanced the actions of gravitational, electric, and (air) drag forces. Using this apparatus, he was able to calculate that the charge on an electron was 1.60 × 10⁻¹⁹ C.

What is the importance of Millikan's oil drop?

On the tiny charge of an isolated oil droplet, Millikan was able to calculate both the sum of electric force and the magnitude of the electric field and to determine the magnitude of the charge itself from the results.

What was Millikan's main contribution to atomic theory?

Millikan discovered that there is a fundamental electric charge—the charge of an electron. Rutherford’s gold foil experiment showed that atoms have a small, dense, positively charged nucleus; the positively charged particles within the nucleus are called protons.