Revisiting Millikan's Oil-Drop Experiment

This article revisits the original data from Millikan's oil-drop experiment. The data have been analyzed using Microsoft Excel. As expected, the results show that Millikan obtained almost exactly the same value that is obtained using a modern computer and spreadsheet. Millikan did not use factoring of the measured charges even though this is often the explanation given in discussions of this experiment. The smallest difference observed indicates the charge of the electron and provides an initial value for the computer analysis of the data. This analysis would be a good exercise (or introductory laboratory) to illustrate the use of spreadsheets for analysis of laboratory data in the physical chemistry laboratory. Other chemistry teachers might also benefit from this analysis and by reading Millikan's primary article on this experiment.