The original mathematical treatment used in the analysis of the Fizeau experiment of 1851, which measured the relative speed of light in a moving medium, assumes that light travels through the water in a smooth continuous flow, at a speed less than the speed of light in a vacuum (relative to the water). Thus, it assumes that the water’s velocity vector can simply be added to that of the light. However, light is transmitted through optical media, such as water, by a continuous process of charge excitation (semi-absorption) and re-emission by the water molecules;but travels between them at the full speed of light (in a vacuum). Thus, the mathematics describing the process of Fresnel dragging must be formulated differently and can then be explained by classical physics, allowing the entire process to be fully visualized.
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