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Estimating the Size of a Single Molecule
How Ben Franklin and Lord Rayleigh used little more than oil and water to calculate a molecule's size
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41629475

Clever!
* Rayleigh meas. 0.81 mg oil; placed on known area of water
* divided volume of oil by area it covered
* assumed oil formed single layer of molecules: monolayer
* thickness of the oil film = length of one oil molecule

#physics #ScienceHistory #BenFranklin #LordRayleigh