Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, steve harris, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. OPTICKS: OR, A TREATISE OF THE _Reflections_, _Refractions_, _Inflections_ and _Colours_ OF LIGHT. _The_ FOURTH EDITION, _corrected_. By Sir _ISAAC NEWTON_, Knt. LONDON: Printed for WILLIAM INNYS at the West-End of St. _Paul's_. MDCCXXX. TITLE PAGE OF THE 1730 EDITION SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S ADVERTISEMENTS Advertisement I _Part of the ensuing Discourse about Light was written at the Desire of some Gentlemen of the_ Royal-Society, _in the Year 1675, and then sent to their Secretary, and read at their Meetings, and the rest was added about twelve Years after to complete the Theory; except the third Book, and the last Proposition of the Second, which were since put together out of scatter'd Papers. To avoid being engaged in Disputes about these Matters, I have hitherto delayed the printing, and should still have delayed it, had not the Importunity of Friends prevailed upon me. If any other Papers writ on this Subject are got out of my Hands they are imperfect, and were perhaps written before I had tried all the Experiments here set down, and fully satisfied my self about the Laws of Refractions and Composition of Colours. I have here publish'd what I think proper to come abroad, wishing that it may not be translated into another Language without my Consent._ _The Crowns of Colours, which sometimes appear about the Sun and Moon, I have endeavoured to give an Account of; but for want of sufficient Observations leave that Matter to be farther examined. The Subject of the Third Book I have also left imperfect, not having tried all the Experiments which I intended when I was about these Matters, nor repeated some of those which I did try, until I had satisfied my self about all their Circumstances. To communicate what I have tried, and leave the rest to others for farther Enquiry, is all my Design in publishing these Papers._ _In a Letter written to Mr._ Leibnitz _in the year 1679, and published by Dr._ Wallis, _I mention'd a Method by which I had found some general Theorems about squaring Curvilinear Figures, or comparing them with the Conic Sections, or other the simplest Figures with which they may be compared. And some Years ago I lent out a Manuscript containing such Theorems, and having since met with some Things copied out of it, I have on this Occasion made it publick, prefixing to it an_ Introduction, _and subjoining a_ Scholium _concerning that Method. And I have joined with it another small Tract concerning the Curvilinear Figures of the Second Kind, which was also written many Years ago, and made known to some Friends, who have solicited the making it publick._ _I. N._ April 1, 1704. Advertisement II _In this Second Edition of these Opticks I have omitted the Mathematical Tracts publish'd at the End of the former Edition, as not belonging to the Subject. And at the End of the Third Book I have added some Questions. And to shew that I do not take Gravity for an essential Property of Bodies, I have added one Question concerning its Cause, chusing to propose it by way of a Question, because I am not yet satisfied about it for want of Experiments._ _I. N._ July 16, 1717. Advertisement to this Fourth Edition _This new Edition of Sir_ Isaac Newton's Opticks _is carefully printed from the Third Edition, as it was corrected by the Author's own Hand, and left before his Death with the Bookseller. Since Sir_ Isaac's Lectiones Opticæ, _which he publickly read in the University of_ Cambridge _in the Years 1669, 1670, and 1671, are lately printed, it has been thought proper to make at the bottom of the Pages several Citations from thence, where may be found the Demonstrations, which the Author omitted in these_ Opticks. * * * * * Transcriber's Note: There are several greek letters used in the descriptions of the illustrations. They are signified by [Greek: letter]. Square roots are noted by the letters sqrt before the equation. * * * * * THE FIRST BOOK OF OPTICKS _PART I._ My Design in this Book is not to explain the Properties of Light by Hypotheses, but to propose and prove them by Reason and Experiments: In order to which I shall premise the following Definitions and Axioms. _DEFINITIONS_ DEFIN. I. _By the Rays of Light I understand its least Parts, and those as well Successive in the same Lines, as Contemporary in several Lines._ For it is manifest that Light consists of Parts, both Successive and Contemporary; because in the same place you may stop that which comes one moment, and let pass that which comes presently after; and in the same time you may stop it in any one place, and let it pass in any other. For that part of Light which is stopp'd cannot be the same with that which is let pass. The least Light or part of Light, which may be stopp'd alone without the rest of the Light, or propagated alone, or do or suffer any thing alone, which the rest of the Light doth not or suffers not, I call a Ray of Light. DEFIN. II. _Refrangibility of the Rays of Light, is their Disposition to be refracted or turned out of their Way in passing out of one transparent Body or Medium into another. And a greater or less Refrangibility of Rays, is their Disposition to be turned more or less out of their Way in like Incidences on the same Medium._ Mathematicians usually consider the Rays of Light to be Lines reaching from the luminous Body to the Body illuminated, and the refraction of those Rays to be the bending or breaking of those lines in their passing out of one Medium into another. And thus may Rays and Refractions be considered, if Light be propagated in an instant. But by an Argument taken from the Æquations of the times of the Eclipses of _Jupiter's Satellites_, it seems that Light is propagated in time, spending in its passage from the Sun to us about seven Minutes of time: And therefore I have chosen to define Rays and Refractions in such general terms as may agree to Light in both cases. DEFIN. III. _Reflexibility of Rays, is their Disposition to be reflected or turned back into the same Medium from any other Medium upon whose Surface they fall. And Rays are more or less reflexible, which are turned back more or less easily._ As if Light pass out of a Glass into Air, and by being inclined more and more to the common Surface of the Glass and Air, begins at length to be totally reflected by that Surface; those sorts of Rays which at like Incidences are reflected most copiously, or by inclining the Rays begin soonest to be totally reflected, are most reflexible. DEFIN. IV. _The Angle of Incidence is that Angle, which the Line described by the incident Ray contains with the Perpendicular to the reflecting or refracting Surface at the Point of Incidence._ DEFIN. V. _The Angle of Reflexion or Refraction, is the Angle which the line described by the reflected or refracted Ray containeth with the Perpendicular to the reflecting or refracting Surface at the Point of Incidence._ DEFIN. VI. _The Sines of Incidence, Reflexion, and Refraction, are the Sines of the Angles of Incidence, Reflexion, and Refraction._ DEFIN. VII _The Light whose Rays are all alike Refrangible, I call Simple, Homogeneal and Similar; and that whose Rays are some more Refrangible than others, I call Compound, Heterogeneal and Dissimilar._ The former Light I call Homogeneal, not because I would affirm it so in all respects, but because the Rays which agree in Refrangibility, agree at least in all those their other Properties which I consider in the following Discourse. DEFIN. VIII. _The Colours of Homogeneal Lights, I call Primary, Homogeneal and Simple; and those of Heterogeneal Lights, Heterogeneal and Compound._ For these are always compounded of the colours of Homogeneal Lights; as will appear in the following Discourse. _AXIOMS._ AX. I. _The Angles of Reflexion and Refraction, lie in one and the same Plane with the Angle of Incidence._ AX. II. _The Angle of Reflexion is equal to the Angle of Incidence._ AX. III. _If the refracted Ray be returned directly back to the Point of Incidence, it shall be refracted into the Line before described by the incident Ray._ AX. IV. _Refraction out of the rarer Medium into the denser, is made towards the Perpendicular; that is, so that the Angle of Refraction be less than the Angle of Incidence._ AX. V. _The Sine of Incidence is either accurately or very nearly in a given Ratio to the Sine of Refraction._ Whence if that Proportion be known in any one Inclination of the incident Ray, 'tis known in all the Inclinations, and thereby the Refraction in all cases of Incidence on the same refracting Body may be determined. Thus if the Refraction be made out of Air into Water, the Sine of Incidence of the red Light is to the Sine of its Refraction as 4 to 3. If out of Air into Glass, the Sines are as 17 to 11. In Light of other Colours the Sines have other Proportions: but the difference is so little that it need seldom be considered. [Illustration: FIG. 1] Suppose therefore, that RS [in _Fig._ 1.] represents the Surface of stagnating Water, and that C is the point of Incidence in which any Ray coming in the Air from A in the Line AC is reflected or refracted, and I would know whither this Ray shall go after Reflexion or Refraction: I erect upon the Surface of the Water from the point of Incidence the Perpendicular CP and produce it downwards to Q, and conclude by the first Axiom, that the Ray after Reflexion and Refraction, shall be found somewhere in the Plane of the Angle of Incidence ACP produced. I let fall therefore upon the Perpendicular CP the Sine of Incidence AD; and if the reflected Ray be desired, I produce AD to B so that DB be equal to AD, and draw CB. For this Line CB shall be the reflected Ray; the Angle of Reflexion BCP and its Sine BD being equal to the Angle and Sine of Incidence, as they ought to be by the second Axiom, But if the refracted Ray be desired, I produce AD to H, so that DH may be to AD as the Sine of Refraction to the Sine of Incidence, that is, (if the Light be red) as 3 to 4; and about the Center C and in the Plane ACP with the Radius CA describing a Circle ABE, I draw a parallel to the Perpendicular CPQ, the Line HE cutting the Circumference in E, and joining CE, this Line CE shall be the Line of the refracted Ray. For if EF be let fall perpendicularly on the Line PQ, this Line EF shall be the Sine of Refraction of the Ray CE, the Angle of Refraction being ECQ; and this Sine EF is equal to DH, and consequently in Proportion to the Sine of Incidence AD as 3 to 4. In like manner, if there be a Prism of Glass (that is, a Glass bounded with two Equal and Parallel Triangular ends, and three plain and well polished Sides, which meet in three Parallel Lines running from the three Angles of one end to the three Angles of the other end) and if the Refraction of the Light in passing cross this Prism be desired: Let ACB [in _Fig._ 2.] represent a Plane cutting this Prism transversly to its three Parallel lines or edges there where the Light passeth through it, and let DE be the Ray incident upon the first side of the Prism AC where the Light goes into the Glass; and by putting the Proportion of the Sine of Incidence to the Sine of Refraction as 17 to 11 find EF the first refracted Ray. Then taking this Ray for the Incident Ray upon the second side of the Glass BC where the Light goes out, find the next refracted Ray FG by putting the Proportion of the Sine of Incidence to the Sine of Refraction as 11 to 17. For if the Sine of Incidence out of Air into Glass be to the Sine of Refraction as 17 to 11, the Sine of Incidence out of Glass into Air must on the contrary be to the Sine of Refraction as 11 to 17, by the third Axiom. [Illustration: FIG. 2.] Much after the same manner, if ACBD [in _Fig._ 3.] represent a Glass spherically convex on both sides (usually called a _Lens_, such as is a Burning-glass, or Spectacle-glass, or an Object-glass of a Telescope) and it be required to know how Light falling upon it from any lucid point Q shall be refracted, let QM represent a Ray falling upon any point M of its first spherical Surface ACB, and by erecting a Perpendicular to the Glass at the point M, find the first refracted Ray MN by the Proportion of the Sines 17 to 11. Let that Ray in going out of the Glass be incident upon N, and then find the second refracted Ray N_q_ by the Proportion of the Sines 11 to 17. And after the same manner may the Refraction be found when the Lens is convex on one side and plane or concave on the other, or concave on both sides. [Illustration: FIG. 3.] AX. VI. _Homogeneal Rays which flow from several Points of any Object, and fall perpendicularly or almost perpendicularly on any reflecting or refracting Plane or spherical Surface, shall afterwards diverge from so many other Points, or be parallel to so many other Lines, or converge to so many other Points, either accurately or without any sensible Error. And the same thing will happen, if the Rays be reflected or refracted successively by two or three or more Plane or Spherical Surfaces._ The Point from which Rays diverge or to which they converge may be called their _Focus_. And the Focus of the incident Rays being given, that of the reflected or refracted ones may be found by finding the Refraction of any two Rays, as above; or more readily thus. _Cas._ 1. Let ACB [in _Fig._ 4.] be a reflecting or refracting Plane, and Q the Focus of the incident Rays, and Q_q_C a Perpendicular to that Plane. And if this Perpendicular be produced to _q_, so that _q_C be equal to QC, the Point _q_ shall be the Focus of the reflected Rays: Or if _q_C be taken on the same side of the Plane with QC, and in proportion to QC as the Sine of Incidence to the Sine of Refraction, the Point _q_ shall be the Focus of the refracted Rays. [Illustration: FIG. 4.] _Cas._ 2. Let ACB [in _Fig._ 5.] be the reflecting Surface of any Sphere whose Centre is E. Bisect any Radius thereof, (suppose EC) in T, and if in that Radius on the same side the Point T you take the Points Q and _q_, so that TQ, TE, and T_q_, be continual Proportionals, and the Point Q be the Focus of the incident Rays, the Point _q_ shall be the Focus of the reflected ones. [Illustration: FIG. 5.] _Cas._ 3. Let ACB [in _Fig._ 6.] be the refracting Surface of any Sphere whose Centre is E. In any Radius thereof EC produced both ways take ET and C_t_ equal to one another and severally in such Proportion to that Radius as the lesser of the Sines of Incidence and Refraction hath to the difference of those Sines. And then if in the same Line you find any two Points Q and _q_, so that TQ be to ET as E_t_ to _tq_, taking _tq_ the contrary way from _t_ which TQ lieth from T, and if the Point Q be the Focus of any incident Rays, the Point _q_ shall be the Focus of the refracted ones. [Illustration: FIG. 6.] And by the same means the Focus of the Rays after two or more Reflexions or Refractions may be found. [Illustration: FIG. 7.] _Cas._ 4. Let ACBD [in _Fig._ 7.] be any refracting Lens, spherically Convex or Concave or Plane on either side, and let CD be its Axis (that is, the Line which cuts both its Surfaces perpendicularly, and passes through the Centres of the Spheres,) and in this Axis produced let F and _f_ be the Foci of the refracted Rays found as above, when the incident Rays on both sides the Lens are parallel to the same Axis; and upon the Diameter F_f_ bisected in E, describe a Circle. Suppose now that any Point Q be the Focus of any incident Rays. Draw QE cutting the said Circle in T and _t_, and therein take _tq_ in such proportion to _t_E as _t_E or TE hath to TQ. Let _tq_ lie the contrary way from _t_ which TQ doth from T, and _q_ shall be the Focus of the refracted Rays without any sensible Error, provided the Point Q be not so remote from the Axis, nor the Lens so broad as to make any of the Rays fall too obliquely on the refracting Surfaces.[A] And by the like Operations may the reflecting or refracting Surfaces be found when the two Foci are given, and thereby a Lens be formed, which shall make the Rays flow towards or from what Place you please.[B]