Millikan Plancks Constant Measurement Analysis#10-PHYS442.

01
Batuhan Baserdem (2010203105)
Department of Physics
Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
(Dated: May 30, 2013)

I.

ANALYSIS

Millikans data is shown below; This data set was first plotted using ROOT. From the plot functions, a resembling
TABLE I: Measurements of Na

5461 A
Volts Defl. (mm)
2.257
28
2.205
14
2.152
7
2.100
3

4339 A
Volts Defl. (mm)
1.581
44
1.629
20
1.576
10
1.524
4

4047 A
Volts Defl. (mm)
1.576
82
1.524
55
1.471
36
1.419
24
1.367
3

3650 A
Volts Defl. (mm)
1.157
67.5
1.105
36
1.0525
19
1.0002
11
.9478
4

3126 A
Volts Defl. (mm)
.5812
52
.5288
29
.4765
12
.4242
5
.3718
2.5

2535 A
Volts Defl. (mm)
-.0576
68
.0576
38
.1620
26
.2670
16.5
.3720
8

curve (A(eBx 1) + C) was fitted to the results, the C value designed to give the Y-intercept; thus V0 . The errors on
V values were determined as follows; Millikan states (pg. 365) that the Dolezalek electrometer he has a sensibility of
2.5 m per V and the meter can be read to accuracy of .2 mm; which indicates an error on V values is approximately
8105 ' 104 V. Due to very high precision (1% on photocurrent deflections and '.0001 on voltage) error bars were
not drawn (they dont display properly anyway) The drawn and fit graphs are in the file. The values and errors of
the potentials are given as follows. The fit statistics, for convenience; uses peta Hertz (p=1015 ) as units. Thus when
the relationship;
E = h

(1)

is accepted; plotting V versus pHz allows us to determine the constant h as 1015 times the slope, in terms of eV sec.
The data are given below; (Millikan reversed his results for 2532
Awavelength; since he (and we) observed that the
applied voltage was not retarding, but dissociating e s. To correct for it; I used the negative value for 2535
Awhen I
fit the line for finding h).
From the slope of the graph (since we are calculating for the retarding potential; the slope is negative;) h is
determined to be 4.411.035 femto eVsec. (Which is '8 higher than the actual result; 4.135667516(91) but it is still
a very remarkable result) Millikan determined previously in his experiments that the charge of e as 1.59241019
C (Actual value being 1.6021764871019 C). If we use this to convert Millikans value to Joule seconds; we get
7.0240.056 1034 Jsec; which is 7 higher that the accepted result with the modern value of e; 6.62606957(29)1034 .
The value of h found agrees with modern values certainly; even in a league of 7-8 deviation from the original
result; there is a great amount of accuracy implied. With statistical analysis tools of today; such calculation can
easily be done on whim; but imagining the difficulty of such practices in the early 20th century certainly is dazzling.
Also; the data; although not completely agreed according to ROOTs statistical tools; fits the theory of linear energy
relationship with frequency beautifully.

Appendix A: Coding

The following code was used to analyse the data for the ROOT Framework.
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float Volt5461 [ 4 ] = {2.257 , 2 . 2 0 5 , 2 . 1 5 2 , 2 . 1 0 0 } ;

float Defl5461 [ 4 ] = {
28 ,
14 ,
7,
3};
// f l o a t V o l t 4 3 3 9 [ 4 ] = { 1 . 5 8 1 , 1 . 6 2 9 , 1 . 5 7 6 , 1 . 5 2 4 } ;
// f l o a t D e f l 4 3 3 9 [ 4 ] = {
44 ,
20 ,
10 ,
4};
float Volt4339 [ 3 ] = {1.581 , 1 . 5 7 6 , 1 . 5 2 4 } ;

5461 Angstroms

4339 Angstroms

2.26
2.24

0.973
0.7794 2.152
-0.006743 0.01667
2.105 0.02885

Y-Int

Prob
p0

Voltage (V)

Voltage (V)

Prob
p0
p1

1.58

0.9738
1.541 0.0282
0.0009893 0.001078

p1

1.57

2.22
2.2

1.56

2.18
1.55
2.16
1.54

2.14
2.12

1.53

2.1
10

15

20

25
30
Deflection (mm)

1.52
0

10

15

20

25

30

(b) 4339
A

4047 Angstroms

3650 Angstroms

35

40
45
Deflection (mm)

Voltage (V)

(a) 5461
A

Voltage (V)

1.15

1.55

1.1
1.5

Prob
p0
p1

1.05
1.45

Prob
p0
p1

1.4

Y-Int

0.9999
-0.5311 0.1936
0.006786 0.003324
1.352 0.0109

Y-Int

1
-0.2652 0.007893
0.03868 0.003835
0.9098 0.007214

40

50

0.95
1.35
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80
Deflection (mm)

10

20

30

(c) 4047
A

(d) 3650
A

3126 Angstroms

2535 Angstroms

0.6

Voltage (V)

Voltage ( V )

60
70
Deflection (mm)

0.55

Prob
p0
p1
Y-Int

0.4

0.9999
0.6653 0.02105
0.02975 0.00315
0.5175 0.01905

0.3

0.5

0.2

Prob
p0
p1
Y-Int

0.45

0.9997
-0.2331 0.02495
0.05998 0.02592
0.351 0.02569

0.1

0.4

10

20

30

40

50
Deflection (mm)

-0.1

10

20

30

(e) 3126
A

40

50

(f) 2535
A

Voltage ( V )

Frequency vs. Voltage

Prob
Slope
p1

2.166e-15
-4.212 0.04248
4.41 0.03537

1.5

0.5

-0.5
0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.1
1.2
Frequency ( peta Hz)

(g) Measuring h

FIG. 1: Graphs of Different Fits

60
70
Deflection (mm)

TABLE II: Stopping potential statistics

Wavelenght (nm) Frequency (pHz) Voltage Error
546.1
0.549
2.105 .029
433.9
0.691
1.541 .028
404.7
0.741
1.352 .011
365.0
0.821
.9098 .007
312.6
0.959
.351
.026
253.5
1.183
-.5175 .019

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float Defl4339 [ 3 ] = {

44 ,

10 ,

4};

float Volt4047 [ 5 ] = {1.576 , 1 . 5 2 4 , 1 . 4 7 1 , 1 . 4 1 9 , 1 . 3 6 7 } ;

float Defl4047 [ 5 ] = {
82 ,
55 ,
36 ,
24 ,
3};
float Volt3650 [ 5 ] = {1.157 , 1 . 1 0 5 , 1.0525 , 1.0002 , . 9 4 7 8 } ;
float Defl3650 [ 5 ] = { 67.5 ,
36 ,
19 ,
11 ,
4};
float Volt3126 [ 5 ] = {.5812 , . 5 2 8 8 , . 4 7 6 5 , . 4 2 4 2 , . 3 7 1 8 } ;
float Defl3126 [ 5 ] = {
52 ,
29 ,
12 ,
5,
2.5};
f l o a t V o l t 2 5 3 5 [ 5 ] = { .0576 , . 0 5 7 6 , . 1 6 2 0 , . 2 6 7 0 , . 3 7 2 0 } ;
float Defl2535 [ 5 ] = {
68 ,
38 ,
26 ,
16.5 ,
8};
/
float
float
/
float
float
float

Voltage [ 6 ] = {
2.101 ,
1.541 ,
1.362 ,
.9641 ,
.4396 ,
.3783};
VoltaEr [ 6 ] = { 8 . 4 6 7 e 06, 8 . 5 7 3 e 6, 8 . 0 0 5 e 6, 1 . 3 4 8 e 5, 1 . 8 4 6 e 5, 8 . 0 5 6 e 6};
Voltage [ 6 ] = { 2.105 , 1.541 , 1.352 ,
.9098 ,
.351 ,
.5175};
VoltaEr [ 6 ] = { . 0 2 8 8 5 , . 0 2 8 2 , . 0 1 0 9 , . 0 0 7 2 1 4 , . 0 2 5 7 , . 0 1 9 0 5 } ;
nanoMet [ 6 ] = { 5 4 6 . 1 , 4 3 3 . 9 , 4 0 4 . 7 , 3 6 5 . 0 , 3 1 2 . 6 , 2 5 3 . 5 } ;

i n t main ( )
{
f l o a t Frequency [ 6 ] ;
TGraphErrors graph ;
// gr aph = new TGraphErrors ( 4 , D e f l 5 46 1 , Volt5461 , 0 , 0 ) ;
// gr aph = new TGraphErrors ( 3 , D e f l 4 33 9 , Volt4339 , 0 , 0 ) ;
// gr aph = new TGraphErrors ( 5 , D e f l 4 04 7 , Volt4047 , 0 , 0 ) ;
// gr aph = new TGraphErrors ( 5 , D e f l 3 65 0 , Volt3650 , 0 , 0 ) ;
// gr aph = new TGraphErrors ( 5 , D e f l 3 12 6 , Volt3126 , 0 , 0 ) ;
//
graph = new TGraphErrors ( 5 , D e f l 2 5 3 5 , Volt2535 , 0 , 0 ) ;
//
p r i n t f ( \n ) ;
f o r ( i n t i =0; i <6; i ++) {
Frequency [ i ] = 3 0 0 . 0 / nanoMet [ i ] ;
p r i n t f ( Freq : = %l f \n , Frequency [ i ] ) ;
}
graph = new TGraphErrors ( 6 , Frequency , Vol tage , 0 , VoltaEr ) ;
graph>S e t T i t l e ( Frequency vs . V o l t a g e ) ;
graph>GetXaxis ( )>S e t T i t l e ( Frequency ( p e t a Hz ) ) ;
graph>GetYaxis ( )>S e t T i t l e ( V o l t a g e ( V ) ) ;
// /
/
graph>S e t T i t l e (2535 Angstroms ) ;
graph>GetXaxis ( )>S e t T i t l e ( D e f l e c t i o n (mm) ) ;
graph>GetYaxis ( )>S e t T i t l e ( V o l t a g e (V) ) ;
g S t y l e >S e t O p t F i t ( 1 0 1 1 ) ;
TF1 f i t = new TF1( Curve , [ 0 ] ( TMath : : Exp ( 1 [ 1 ] x ) 1) + [ 2 ] , 0 , 8 3 ) ;

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f i t >S e t P a r a m e t e r s ( . 1 , . 0 1 , 2 ) ;
f i t >SetParName ( 2 , YI n t ) ;
graph>F i t ( Curve , ) ;
// /
TF1 f i t = new TF1( L i n e , x++1 , 0 , 1 . 3 ) ;
f i t >SetParName ( 0 , S l o p e ) ;
graph>Draw ( A ) ;
graph>F i t ( L i n e , R ) ;