Other Accomplishments
![](Millikan1.jpg)
http://voltaicpower.com/Biographies/MillikanBio.htm
Millikan performed and verified many experiments during
his lifetime.One that he verified was Einstein's photoelectric equation.
While it had been known for a long time that light falling
on metal surfaces
may
eject
electrons
from
them
(the
photoelectric
effect), Millikan was the first to determine with great accuracy that
the maximum kinetic energy of the ejected electrons obey the equation
Einstein had proposed in 1905: namely, 1/2mv2 = hf - P, where h is
Planck's constant, f the frequency of the incident light, and P is,
in Millikan's words, "the work necessary to get the electron out
of the metal." Millikan determined h to have the value 6.57 x
10-27 erg-sec to "a precision of about 0.5 per cent," a value
far better than had been obtained in any previous attempt.
Millikan studies of the Brownian movements in gases resulted in the
end of opposition to the atomic and kinetic theories of matter. He
used
similar experiments with cathode rays and with alpha- and beta- rays
as he did with the oil drop. These experiments investigated the low
of fall of small bodies through gases and the law of their Brownian
movements. Millikan then worked with the hot-spark spectroscopy of
the elements. This contained the region of the spectrum between the
ultraviolet and X-radiation. This extended the ultraviolet spectrum
to beyond what it had previously been known to exist. His discovery
of his law of motion of a particle falling towards the earth after
entering the earth’s atmosphere along with his other discoveries
of electrical phenomena, led him to his significant studies of cosmic
radiation. Without the discoveries that Millikan made the law of Einstein
could not have any value. The theory of Bohr would also not have any
support. During the First World War he worked on developing anti-submarine
and meteorological devices.