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The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted c, is a universal physical constant that is exactly equal to 299,792,458 metres per second (approximately 300,000 kilometres per second; 186,000 miles per second; 671 million miles per hour).
At 3 times the speed it was again eclipsed. [3] [4] Given the rotational speed of the wheel and the distance between the wheel and the mirror, Fizeau was able to calculate a value of 2 × 8633m × 720 × 25.2/s = 313,274,304 m/s for the speed of light. Fizeau's value for the speed of light was 4.5% too high. [5] The correct value is 299,792,458 ...
Depending on the value assumed for the astronomical unit, this yields the speed of light as just a little more than 300,000 kilometres per second. The first measurements of the speed of light using completely terrestrial apparatus were published in 1849 by Hippolyte Fizeau (1819–96). Compared to values accepted today, Fizeau's result (about ...
As shown in the Fizeau experiment, when light is transmitted through a moving medium, its speed relative to an observer traveling with speed v in the same direction as the light is: = + + + (). The momentum of photons in a medium of refractive index n is a complex and controversial issue with two different values having different physical ...
[S 5]: 33 The overall speed of a beam of light should be a simple additive sum of its speed through the water plus the speed of the water. That is, if n is the index of refraction of water, so that c/n is the speed of light in stationary water, then the predicted speed of light w in one arm would be [S 2]: 40
In 1845, Arago suggested to Fizeau and Foucault that they attempt to measure the speed of light. Sometime in 1849, however, it appears that the two had a falling out, and they parted ways. [5]: 124 [3] In 1848−49, Fizeau used, not a rotating mirror, but a toothed wheel apparatus to perform an absolute measurement of the speed of light in air.
The two-way speed of light is the average speed of light from one point, such as a source, to a mirror and back again. Because the light starts and finishes in the same place, only one clock is needed to measure the total time; thus, this speed can be experimentally determined independently of any clock synchronization scheme.
[1] [2] This leaves open the possibility, however, that an inertial observer inferring the apparent speed of light in a distant region might calculate a different value. Spatial variation of the speed of light in a gravitational potential as measured against a distant observer's time reference is implicitly present in general relativity. [3]