Page:Elektrische und Optische Erscheinungen (Lorentz) 126.jpg

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a number of glass columns located after one another, and an analyzer. At the time of solstice, mostly at noon, the devise was turned at first with the polarizator into the east, and with the analyzer into the west, then they were brought into the opposite direction, while in the whole time, a beam of light rays was sent through by means of appropriately located mirrors. Although some irregularities showed up in the settings of the analyzer, yet altogether, a constant difference between the obtained readings for both locations seemed to exist.

When I developed the present theory, I hoped at first to be able to explain this difference, but soon I found myself disappointed in my expectation. If the equations developed by me are correct, then an influence, as the one expected by Fizeau, cannot exist. The prove for that should be given by the next paragraph.

§ 94. Since we were working with white light, and the rotation of the polarization plane in the glass columns is not the same for all colors, so it was necessary to compensate the dispersion that arose from it. For that, circular-polarizing fluids were used, e.g. lemon oil or turpentine, and sometimes thin quartz plates that were cut perpendicular to the axis. For simplicity, we want to assume however, that light is homogeneous and therefore that no such substances are available in the apparatus. The theorem derived in § 59, is then readily applicable as it applies to an arbitrary system of refractive or birefringent bodies.

Now, an ideal experiment with respect to a stationary earth shall be compared with a real experiment, in which the apparatus in relation to Earth's motion is oriented in an arbitrary way. In the first case, the polarizer shall receive rays from the direction s and the oscillation period T; here, we imagine the analyzer thus placed that it does not transmit light. In the latter case the "corresponding" state of motion (§ 59) shall exist. For that, the incident light must have the relative oscillation period T(§ 60 a), and still have the ray-direction s (§ 60, b ). Behind the