Version 1
: Received: 5 April 2022 / Approved: 7 April 2022 / Online: 7 April 2022 (14:05:14 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 26 April 2022 / Approved: 27 April 2022 / Online: 27 April 2022 (08:51:06 CEST)
Filipescu, F. D. Emission, Propagation, and Reflection of Light as Mechanical Phenomena in Inertial Frames. Physics Essays, 2021, 34, 587–590. https://doi.org/10.4006/0836-1398-34.4.587.
Filipescu, F. D. Emission, Propagation, and Reflection of Light as Mechanical Phenomena in Inertial Frames. Physics Essays, 2021, 34, 587–590. https://doi.org/10.4006/0836-1398-34.4.587.
Filipescu, F. D. Emission, Propagation, and Reflection of Light as Mechanical Phenomena in Inertial Frames. Physics Essays, 2021, 34, 587–590. https://doi.org/10.4006/0836-1398-34.4.587.
Filipescu, F. D. Emission, Propagation, and Reflection of Light as Mechanical Phenomena in Inertial Frames. Physics Essays, 2021, 34, 587–590. https://doi.org/10.4006/0836-1398-34.4.587.
Abstract
Emission, propagation, and reflection of light as mechanical phenomena in inertial frames are based on the behavior of balls at the limit when their mass is zero. The kinematics of massless balls is like that of balls with mass. Light as a wave or particle is a massless entity. Therefore, it is natural to apply the kinematics of the massless balls to light. Consequently, the kinematics of light depends on its kinetics of electromagnetic nature and its kinematics of mechanical nature in its interactions of emission and reflection with the matter. The study of the physics phenomena in the frame at absolute rest includes those in the inertial frames. Considering this and applying the emission, propagation, and reflection of light as mechanical phenomena in the vacuum of the frame at absolute rest, this study derives formulas for the speed of the wavefront of a ray of light reflected by a fixed and moving mirror when the light comes from a fixed and moving source. The derived formulas apply to the modified Michelson interferometer, employed independently by R. Tomaschek and D. C. Miller in their experiments.
Keywords
geometrical optics; speed of light; emission of light; propagation of light; reflection of light; Michelson-Morley experiment; modified Michelson interferometer
Subject
Physical Sciences, Optics and Photonics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
