§ 6 Action of Sonorous Vibrations on Polarized Light
When a tube or rod vibrating longitudinally yields its fundamental tone, its two ends are in a state of free vibration, the glass there suffering neither strain nor pressure. The case at the centre is exactly the reverse; here there is no vibration, but a quick alternation of tension and compression. When the sonorous pulses meet at the centre they squeeze the glass; when they recoil they strain it. Thus while at the ends we have the maximum of vibration, but no change of density, at the centre we have the maximum changes of density, but no vibration.
We have now cleared the way for the introduction of a very beautiful experiment made many years ago by Biot, but never, to my knowledge, repeated on the scale here presented to you. The beam from our electric lamp, L, Fig. 89, being sent through a prism, B, of bi-refracting spar, a beam of polarized light is obtained. This beam impinges on a second prism of spar, n, but, though both prisms are perfectly transparent, the light which has passed through the first cannot get through the second. By introducing a piece of glass between the two prisms, and subjecting the glass to either strain or pressure, the light is enabled to pass through the entire system.
I now introduce between the prisms B and n a rectangle, s s′, of plate glass, 6 feet long, 2 inches wide, and one-third of an inch thick, which is to be thrown into longitudinal vibration. The beam from L passes through the glass at a point near its centre, which is held in a vise, c, so that when a wet cloth is passed over one of the halves, c s′, of the strip, the centre will be a node. During its longitudinal vibration the glass near the centre is, as already explained, alternately strained and compressed; and this successive strain and pressure so changes the condition of the light as to enable it to pass through the second prism. The screen is now dark; but on passing the wetted cloth briskly over the glass a brilliant disk of light, three feet in diameter, flashes out upon the screen. The vibration quickly subsides, and the luminous disk as quickly disappears, to be, however, revived at will by the passage of the wetted cloth along the glass.
The light of this disk appears to be continuous, but it is really intermittent, for it is only when the glass is under strain or pressure that the light can get through. In passing from strain to pressure, and from pressure to strain, the glass is for a moment in its natural state, which, if it continued, would leave the screen dark. But the impressions of brightness, due to the strains and pressures, remain far longer upon the retina than is necessary to abolish the intervals of darkness; hence the screen appears illuminated by a continuous light. When the glass rectangle is shifted so as to cause the beam of polarized light to pass through it close to its end, s, the longitudinal vibrations of the glass have no effect whatever upon the polarized beam.
Thus, by means of this subtile investigator, we demonstrate that, while the centre of the glass, where the vibration is nil, is subjected to quick alternations of strain and pressure, the ends of the rectangle, where the vibration is a maximum, suffer neither.44