Measuring Speed of Light - Fizeau's Method

This section describes the method used by Armand Fizeau to measure the speed of light using using a rotating toothed wheel and a mirror.

In 1849, the French physicist Armand Fizeau created a new method to measure the speed of light more accurately using a rotating toothed wheel and a mirror, as illustrated in the picture below.

Fizeau's measurement is based on the following idea:

Using this idea, Fizeau was able to measure the speed of light as 313,300,000 m/s. This is not very bad comparing today's definition of the speed of light: 299,792,458 m/s.

Speed of Light Measurement by Armand Fizeau (csic.es)
Speed of Light Measurement by Armand Fizeau

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction of Space

 Introduction of Frame of Reference

 Introduction of Time

Introduction of Speed

 What Is Speed

 List of Various Speeds

 Different Speeds Observed in Different Frames

 Measuring Speed of Light - Roemer's Method

Measuring Speed of Light - Fizeau's Method

 Measuring Speed of Light - Foucault's Method

 Newton's Laws of Motion

 Introduction of Special Relativity

 Time Dilation in Special Relativity

 Length Contraction in Special Relativity

 The Relativity of Simultaneity

 Introduction of Spacetime

 Minkowski Spacetime and Diagrams

 Introduction of Hamiltonian

 Introduction of Lagrangian

 Introduction of Generalized Coordinates

 Phase Space and Phase Portrait

 References

 Full Version in PDF/ePUB