Page:Light waves and their uses.djvu/83

Rh passing from one position in which the fringes disappear to the next.

If the two homogeneous trains of waves have the same intensity, then the two sets of fringes will be of the same brightness, and when the bright fringe of one falls on the dark fringe of the other, the fringes disappear entirely. If, however, the two trains have different intensities, one set of fringes will be brighter than the other, and the fringes will not entirely disappear when one set has gained half a fringe on the other. In this case the fringes will merely pass through a minimum of distinctness. We see then that, if our source of light is double, i. e., sends out light of two different wave lengths, we should expect to see the clearness or visibility of the fringes vary as the difference of path between the two interfering beams was increased.

If we invert this process and observe the interference fringes as the difference in path is increased, and find this variation in the clearness or visibility of the fringes, it is proved with absolute certainty that we are dealing with a double line. This is found to be the case with sodium light, and, therefore, by measuring the distance between the positions of the mirror at which the fringes disappear, we find that we actually can determine accurately the difference between the wave lengths of the two sodium lines. In order to carry the analysis a step farther, suppose that we magnify one of these two sodium lines. It would probably appear somewhat like a broad, hazy band. For the sake of simplicity, however, we will suppose that it looks like a broad ribbon of light with sharp edges. The distance between these edges, i. e., the width of this one line, if the sodium vapor in the flame is not too dense, is something like one-fiftieth, or, perhaps, in some cases as small as one-hundredth, of the unit we have adopted—the distance between the sodium lines.