The Theory of Light: A Treatise on Physical Optics, Volume 1University Press, 1908 - 326 pages |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
a₁ amplitude angle of incidence axes azimuth beam boundary conditions Brewster's angle centre change of phase colour components constant corresponding cos² cosec critical angle crystal curl d₁ dark difference of phase displacement dynamical equations elliptic energy experiment following table gives Fresnel's formulae given glass Hence incident light incident wave intensity isotropic L₁ layer of transition light polarised lines M₁ maxima and minima medium metal N₁ Newton's rings obtained optic axis order of approximation p₁ plane of incidence plane polarised plate polarised at right polarising angle positive Principal Incidence quantities R₁ realgar reflected wave refracted ray refractive index represented right angles rings silver sin² steel tan² theory thickness uniaxal uniradial values vector velocity w₁ wave front wave length wave normal wave surface x₁ zero µ² ду дх
Popular passages
Page 9 - If you forgive me, I rejoice ; if you are angry, I can bear it : the die is cast, the book is written ; to be read either now or by posterity, I care not which : it may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.
Page 12 - I never satisfy myself until I can make a mechanical model of a thing. If I can make a mechanical model I can understand it.
Page 9 - Tycho, he advised his young friend " first to lay a solid foundation for his views by actual observation, and by ascending from these to strive to reach the causes of things...
Page 2 - Newton's law of universal gravitation states that every particle in the Universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Page 2 - It is impossible for a self-acting machine, unaided by any external agency, to convey heat from one body to another at a higher temperature ; or heat cannot of itself (that is, without compensation) pass from a colder to a warmer body.
Page 26 - Now the force or energy of the wave, which, expressed with reference to sensation, means the intensity of the light, is proportional to the square of the amplitude. Hence the amplitude being one-hundredfold, the energy of the largest light-giving waves would be ten-thousandfold that of the smallest.
Page 8 - is the sphere, the measurer of all. Round it describe a dodecahedron, the circle including this will be (the orbit of) Mars. Round Mars describe a tetrahedron, the circle including this will be Jupiter. Describe a cube round Jupiter, the circle including this will be Saturn. Then inscribe in the (orbit of the) Earth an icosahedron, the circle described in it will be Venus. Describe an octahedron round Venus, the circle inscribed in it will be Mercury.
Page 241 - of the medium, ie, the ratio of the velocity of light in air to that in the medium, and a is the coefficient of absorption.
Page 202 - Some of the leading features were described as follows : — (1) If one of the crystalline plates be turned round in its own plane, without alteration of the angle of incidence, the peculiar reflection vanishes twice in a revolution, viz., when the plane of incidence coincides with the plane of symmetry of the crystal. (2) As the angle of incidence is increased, the reflected light becomes brighter, and rises in refrangibility. (3) The colours are not due to absorption, the transmitted light being...
Page 106 - Glasses where the Circles appeared, so that all the Colours might be successively reflected from the Circles to my Eye whilst I held it immoveable, I found the Circles which the red light made to be manifestly bigger than those which were made by the blue and violet. And it was very pleasant to see them gradually swell or contract according as the Colour of the Light was changed.