Page:Light waves and their uses.djvu/76

58, with a corresponding increase in the delicacy of the test.

I will conclude by showing how to measure the length of light waves by means of the interferometer. By turning the head attached to the screw, one of the interferometer mirrors (namely C, Fig. 39) can be moved very slowly. This motion will produce a corresponding displacement of the interference fringes. Count the number of interference fringes which pass a fixed point while the mirror moves a given distance. Then divide double the distance by the number of fringes which have passed, and we have the length of the wave. Using a scale marked from 0 to 10, made of such a size and placed at such a distance that, when a beam of light reflected from a mirror attached to the screw moves over one division, a difference in path of