Subject: Millikan Experiment Simulation - Find the mass of a single marble

We had to conduct a similar practice to Millikan's oil drop experiment in class.
This is the situation:

There are 10 bags each containing a different amount of small marbles of the
same mass. There is also one big marble of different mass to the small marble
added to each bag. Each bag is massed and that mass is given to us. Now through
techniques similar to those of Millikan, we must:

1. Determine the mass of one SMALL marble.
2. Determine the number of SMALL marbles in each bag.

Our technique was simply to find the difference between all the bags and thus
having 45 differences. This difference represents the net mass. That is, since
all the bags contain one large marble, this difference eliminates the mass of
the large marble as well as the bag since they were constants of each total
mass. This leaves the net mass of just the small marbles in each bag. Moreover
the smallest difference between the differences were found. If this difference
was divisible into all the other differences as an integer value, it was
concluded that this was the mass of a single small marble. Now how do we find
the number of small marbles in each bag? We don't have either the mass of one
big marble nor the mass of the bag. I know there are some serious flaws with
this method so feel free suggesting a more sound, error-proof method that may
involve mathematical equations and more physics concepts.

Thanks.

Re: Millikan Experiment Simulation - Find the mass of a single marble