Classical Model of Light Transmission in Optical Media: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

The aim of this paper to fully explain, in detail, the exact mechanism for the observed Fresnel Dragging of light in an experiment such as the Fizeau experiment of 1851 using well known, Classical Physics alone. The original mathematical technique employed in the analysis of the Fizeau experiment of 1851, which determined the relative speed of light in a moving medium, assumes that light flows through the water in a smooth continuous flow at a slower pace than light travels through a vacuum (relative to the water). As a result, it is assumed that the water's velocity vector can be simply added to the light's. Light, on the other hand, is transmitted through optical media like water via a continual process of charge excitation (semi-absorption) and re-emission by the water molecules; nonetheless, it travels between them at the speed of light (in a vacuum). As a result, the mathematics underlying Fresnel dragging must be reformulated so that classical Physics can explain it, allowing the entire process to be properly comprehended.