Relativity and Cosmology

    

Fizeau Experiment Revisited and Physical Meaning of the Refractive Index

Authors: Florian Michael Schmitt

The Fizeau experiment was a pivotal milestone on the long road to the discovery of Relativity. In this paper, we identify a fundamental flaw in Fizeau's Fresnel-based interpretation: the exclusion of different wavelengths of light in vacuum and water from the calculation. We present a physically robust explanation of the effect using classical physics. As a byproduct, the derived formulae clarify the physical meaning of the refractive index and address why refractive indices usually, but not always, correlate with matter density. Furthermore, they enable the calculation of the relationship between molecular diameter and the spacing between molecules in a medium, derived from the refractive index.

Comments: 7 Pages.

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Submission history

[v1] 2022-10-23 01:26:02
[v2] 2025-02-11 16:11:42

Unique-IP document downloads: 169 times

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