A Simple Classical Interpretation of Fizeau's Experiment
Giuseppe Antoni
Umberto Bartocci
Keywords: Special Relativity, Stokes's Aether Theory, Speed
It is well known that Stokes's aether dragged theory is one of the best classical aether theories, since it is in agreement with almost all experimental results (see for instance R. Resnick's popular textbook: Introduction to Special Relativity). This theory is usually dismissed on the grounds of two natural phenomena, which are said to be "unexplainable" in Stokes's conceptual context: Bradley's astronomical annual aberration, and the speed of light in moving water (Fizeau's experiment). In this paper, a simple "time-delay" model for the behaviour of light in a transparent medium is given, which at least gets rid of the second of the two previous objections.
