Page:Light waves and their uses.djvu/66

48 accomplish this we must compare the velocities of light in air and in some denser, transparent medium—say water. Now, the greatest length of a column of water which still permits enough light to pass to enable us to measure the very small quantities involved is something like thirty feet. We should therefore have to determine the time it takes the light to pass through thirty feet of water, at the rate of 150,000 miles a second. This interval of time is of the order of one twenty-millionth of a second. But we must measure a time interval even smaller than this, for we have to distinguish between the velocity in water and the corresponding velocity in the air, i. e., to determine the difference between two time intervals, each of which is of the order of one twenty-millionth of a second. This, at first sight, seems beyond the possibility of any physical experiment; but, notwithstanding this exceedingly small interval of time, by the combined genius of Wheatstone, Arago, Foucault, and Fizeau the problem has been successfully solved. The method proposed by Wheatstone for measuring the velocity of electricity was this: A mirror was mounted so that it could be revolved about an axis parallel to its surface at a very high rate, and the light from the spark produced by the discharge of a condenser was allowed to fall on the mirror. The images of two sparks were observed in the revolving mirror; the second spark passed after the electric current which produced it had passed through a considerable length of