Oil Drop Apparatus
name: label: maker
content: W. G. Pye & Company
notes: label: Description
content: Robert A. Millikan and Harvey Fletcher used an oil drop to measure the elementary electric charge (the charge of the electron) in 1909. This instrument is designed for repeating that experiment. One inscription reads “W. G. Pye & Co., Cambridge, Eng.” The “Pale Company, New York” tag on the base identifies the firm that sold this item in the United States. This firm was in business by 1918.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, Cambridge
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Rutgers University Department of Physics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.327637
label: catalog number
content: 327637
label: accession number
content: 268279
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Oil Drop Apparatus
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: microscope tube: 15.2 cm x 2.2 cm; 6 in x 7/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15.2 cm x 16.5 cm x 20.3 cm; 6 in x 6 1/2 in x 8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 in x 7 7/8 in x 6 7/16 in; 15.24 cm x 20.0025 cm x 16.35125 cm