Redicovering the atom, how many pennies For Chemirsty Class - Lab Report Example

It is done using a beaker of pennies and the main objective is to find the weight of one penny using the Millikan’s experiment. This is done using the principals behind the Millikan’s experiment in which Millikan was able to determine the charge of an electron by using the oil drop experiment. The experiment is to take place inside a lab and various measurements are recorded. After this the data is manipulated using Microsoft spreadsheet to get the overall mass of one penny. This is done in an experiment that looks like a game performed by 15 students.

The experiment is similar to the experiment that was done by Millikan to determine the charge of one electron without knowing the number of electrons that were there in the oil drop. This experiment also finds the mass of one penny without knowing the number of pennies in the beaker. This experiment was done by 15 students who volunteered to take part in the experiment. Each student was provided with an empty beaker that was later filled with pennies. A balance is also needed to be used in measuring the weights of the can with the pennies as the experiment goes on.

In the experiment, the 15 students each grab a handful of pennies without knowing the total number that they have grabbed. After grabbing the pennies, the mass of the pennies that they grabbed is measured to find the total mass of the handful. Then a table is drawn and the mass of the handful collected by the students are recorded. The masses are arranged from the largest to the smallest. Then subtract each mass from the corresponding greater mass and find the difference. After this get the smallest difference that is close to 2 and not in the range of 0.5, 0.5 and so on.

After this make a table of the difference in mass of the pennies and the integers that is found. The gradient of the graph gives the mass of one penny To get the smallest number, the differences with the smallest number greater than 2 is used. Those