Maxwell J.C. “Ether” // Britannica, 9 ed., vol. 8, 1878

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The only practicable method of determining directly the relative velocity of the aether with respect to the solar system is to compare the values of the velocity of light {571} deduced from the observation of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites when Jupiter is seen from the earth at nearly opposite points of the ecliptic. Arago proposed to compare the deviation produced in the light of a star after passing through an achromatic prism when the direction of the ray within the prism formed different angles with the direction of motion of the earth in its orbit. If the aether were moving swiftly through the prism, the deviation might be expected to be different when the direction of the light was the same as that of the aether, and when these directions were opposite. The present writer[2] arranged the experiment in a more practicable manner by using an ordinary spectroscope, in which a plane mirror was substituted for the slit of the collimator. The cross wires of the observing telescope were illuminated. The light from any point of the wire passed through the objectglass and then through the prisms as a parallel pencil till it fell on the object-glass of the collimator, and came to a focus at the mirror, where it was reflected, and after passing again through the object-glass it formed a pencil passing through each of the prisms parallel to its original direction, so that the object-glass of the observing telescope brought it to a focus coinciding with the point of the cross wires from which it originally proceeded. Since the image coincided with the object, it could not be observed directly, but by diverting the pencil by partial reflection at a plane surface of glass, it was found that the image of the finest spider line could be distinctly seen, though the light which formed the image had passed twice through three prisms of 60°. The apparatus was first turned so that the direction of the light in first passing through the second prism was that of the earth's motion in its orbit. The apparatus was afterwards placed so that the direction of the light was opposite to that of the earth's motion. If the deviation of the ray by the prisms was increased or diminished for this reason in the first journey, it would be diminished or increased in the return journey, and the image would appear on one side of the object. When the apparatus was turned round it would appear on the other side. The experiment was tried at different times of the year, but only negative results were obtained. We cannot, however, conclude absolutely from this experiment that the aether near the surface of the earth is carried along with the earth in its orbit, for it has been shown by Professor Stokes[3] that according to Fresnel's hypothesis the relative velocity of the aether within the prism would be to that of the aether outside inversely as the square of the index of refraction, and that in this case the deviation would not be sensibly altered on account of the motion of the prism through the aether. Fizeau[4], however, by observing the change of the plane of polarization of light transmitted obliquely through a series of glass plates, obtained what he supposed to be evidence of a difference in the result when the direction of the ray in space was different, and Angstrom obtained analogous results by diffraction. The writer is not aware that either of these very difficult experiments has been verified by repetition. In another experiment of M. Fizeau, which seems entitled to greater confidence, he has observed that the propagation of light in a stream of water takes place with greater velocity in the direction in which the water moves than in the opposite direction, but that the change of velocity is less than that which would be due to the actual velocity of the water, and that the phenomenon does not occur when air is substituted for water. This experiment seems rather to verify Fresnel's theory of the aether; but the whole question of the state of the luminiferous medium near the earth, and of its connexion with gross matter, is very far as yet from being settled by experiment. Function of the aether in electromagnetic phenomena. — Faraday conjectured that, the same medium which is concerned in the propagation of light might also be the agent in electromagnetic phenomena. “For my own part,” he says, “considering the relation of a vacuum to the magnetic force, and the general character of magnetic phenomena external to the magnet, I am much more inclined to the notion that in the transmission of the force there is such an action, external to the magnet, than that the effects are merely attraction and repulsion at a distance. Such an action may be a function of the aether; for it is not unlikely that, if there be an aether, it should have other uses than simply the conveyance of radiation[5].” This conjecture has only been strengthened by subsequent investigations. Electrical energy is of two kinds, electrostatic and electrokinetic. We have reason to believe that the former depends on a property of the medium, in virtue of which an electric displacement elicits an electromotive force in the opposite direction, the electromotive force for unit displacement being inversely as the specific inductive capacity of the medium. The electrokinetic energy, on the other hand, is simply the energy of the motion set up in the medium by electric currents and magnets, this motion not being confined to the wires which carry the currents, or to the magnet, but existing in every place where magnetic force can be found. Electromagnetic Theory of Light. The properties of the electromagnetic medium are therefore as far as we have gone similar to those of the luminiferous medium, but the best way to compare them is to determine the velocity with which an electromagnetic disturbance would be propagated through the medium. If this should be equal to the velocity of light, we would have strong reason to believe that the two media, occupying as they do the same space, are really identical. The data for making the calculation are furnished by the experiments made in order to compare the electromagnetic with the electrostatic system of units. The velocity of propagation of an electromagnetic disturbance in air, as calculated from different sets of data, does not differ more from the velocity of light in air, as determined by different observers, than the several calculated values of these quantities differ among each other. If the velocity of propagation of an electromagnetic disturbance is equal to that of fight in other transparent media, then in non-magnetic media the specific inductive capacity should be equal to the square of the index of refraction. Boltzmann[6] has found that this is very accurately true for the gases which he has examined. Liquids and solids exhibit a greater divergence from this relation, but we can hardly expect even an approximate verification when we have to compare the results of our sluggish electrical experiments with the alternations of light, which take place billions of times in a second. The undulatory theory, in the form which treats the phenomena of light as the motion of an elastic solid, is still encumbered with several difficulties.[7] The first and most important of these is that the theory indicates the possibility of undulations consisting of vibrations normal to the surface of the wave. The only way of {572} accounting for the fact that the optical phenomena which would arise from these waves do not take place is to assume that the aether is incompressible. [2] Phil. Trans. clviii. (1868), p. 532. [3] Phil. Mag. 1846, p. 53. [4] Ann. de Chimie et de Physique, Feb. 1860. [5] Experimental Researches, 3075. [6] Wiener Sitzb., 23 April, 1874. [7] See Prof. Stokes, “Report on Double Refraction,” British Ass. Report, 1862, p. 253. The only way of {572} accounting for the fact that the optical phenomena which would arise from these waves do not take place is to assume that the aether is incompressible. The next is that, whereas the phenomena of reflection are best explained on the hypothesis that the vibrations are perpendicular to the plane of polarization, those of double refraction require us to assume that the vibrations are in that plane. The third is that, in order to account for the fact that in a doubly refracting crystal the velocity of rays in any principal plane and polarized in that plane is the same, we must assume certain highly artificial relations among the coefficients of elasticity. The electromagnetic theory of light satisfies all these requirements by the single hypothesis[8] that the electric displacement is perpendicular to the plane of polarization. No normal displacement can exist, and in doubly refracting crystals the specific dielectric capacity for each principal axis is assumed to be equal to the square of the index of refraction of a ray perpendicular to that axis, and polarized in a plane perpendicular to that axis. Boltzmann[9] has found that these relations are approximately true in the case of crystallized sulphur, a body having three unequal axes. The specific dielectric capacity for these axes are respectively 4.773 3.970 3.811 and the squares of the indices of refraction 4.576 3.886 3.591. Physical constitution of the aether. What is the ultimate constitution of the aether? is it molecular or continuous? We know that the aether transmits transverse vibrations to very great distances without sensible loss of energy by dissipation. A molecular medium, moving under such conditions that a group of molecules once near together remain near each other during the whole motion, may be capable of transmitting vibrations without much dissipation of energy, but if the motion is such that the groups of molecules are not merely slightly altered in configuration but entirely broken up, so that their component molecules pass into new types of grouping, then in the passage from one type of grouping to another the energy of regular vibrations will be frittered away into that of the irregular agitation which we call heat. We cannot therefore suppose the constitution of the aether to be like that of a gas, in which the molecules are always in a state of irregular agitation, for in such a medium a transverse undulation is reduced to less than one fivehundredth of its amplitude in a single wave-length. If the aether is molecular, the grouping of the molecules must remain of the same type, the configuration of the groups being only slightly altered during the motion. Mr S. Tolver Preston[10] has supposed that the aether is like a gas whose molecules very rarely interfere with each other, so that their mean path is far greater than any planetary distances. He has not investigated the properties of such a medium with any degree of completeness, but it is easy to see that we might form a theory in which the molecules never interfere with each other's motion of translation, but travel in all directions with the velocity of light; and if we further suppose that vibrating bodies have the power of impressing on these molecules some vector property (such as rotation about an axis) which does not interfere with their motion of translation, and which is then carried along by the molecules, and if the alternation of the average value of this vector for all the molecules within an element of volume be the process which we call light, then the equations which express this average will be of the same form as that which expresses the displacement in the ordinary theory. It is often asserted that the mere fact that a medium is elastic or compressible is a proof that the medium is not continuous, but is composed of separate parts having void spaces between them. But there is nothing inconsistent with experience in supposing elasticity or compressibility to be properties of every portion, however small, into which the medium can be conceived to be divided, in which case the medium would be strictly continuous. A medium, however, though homogeneous and continuous as regards its density, may be rendered heterogeneous by its motion, as in Sir W. Thomson's hypothesis of vortex-molecules in a perfect liquid (see Art. Atom). The aether, if it is the medium of electromagnetic phenomena, is probably molecular, at least in this sense. Sir W. Thomson[11] has shown that the magnetic influence on light discovered by Faraday depends on the direction of motion of moving particles, and that it indicates a rotational motion in the medium when magnetized. See also Maxwell's Electricity and Magnetism, Art., 806, &c. Now, it is manifest that this rotation cannot be that of the medium as a whole about an axis, for the magnetic field may be of any breadth, and there is no evidence of any motion the velocity of which increases with the distance from a single fixed line in the field. If there is any motion of rotation, it must be a rotation of very small portions of the medium each about its own axis, so that the medium must be broken up into a number of molecular vortices. We have as yet no data from which to determine the size or the number of these molecular vortices. We know, however, that the magnetic force in the region in the neighbourhood of a magnet is maintained as long as the steel retains its magnetization, and as we have no reason to believe that a steel magnet would lose all its magnetization by the mere lapse of time, we conclude that the molecular vortices do not require a continual expenditure of work in order to maintain their motion, and that therefore this motion does not necessarily involve dissipation of energy. No theory of the constitution of the aether has yet been invented which will account for such a system of molecular vortices being maintained for an indefinite time without their energy being gradually dissipated into that irregular agitation of the medium which, in ordinary media, is called heat. Whatever difficulties we may have in forming a consistent idea of the constitution of the aether, there can be no doubt that the interplanetary and interstellar spaces are not empty, but are occupied by a material substance or body, which is certainly the largest, and probably the most uniform body of which we have any knowledge. Whether this vast homogeneous expanse of isotropic matter is fitted not only to be a medium of physical interaction between distant bodies, and to fulfil other physical functions of which, perhaps, we have as yet no conception, but also, as the authors of the Unseen Universe seem to suggest, to constitute the material organism of beings exercising functions of life and mind as high or higher than ours are at present, is a question far transcending the limits of physical speculation. [8] Over de theorie der terugkaatsing en breking van het licht, — Academisch Proefschrift door H. A. Lorentz. Arnliem, K. van der Zande, 1875. [9] “Ueber die Verschiedenheit der Dielektricitätsconstante des krystallisirten Schwefels nach verschiedenen Richtungen,” by Ludwig Boltzmann, Wiener Sitzb., 8th Oct., 1874. [10] Phil. Mag., Sept aud Nov. 1877. [11] Proceedings of the Royal Society, June, 1856.