michelson {Rlab} | R Documentation |
These data are actually measurements obtained by Michelson between June 5, 1879, and July 2, 1879. The data are in km/sec if 299000 is added to each value. Working backwards from the current `true value' of the velocity of light in vacuum (299,792.5 km/sec) and using Michelson's own adjustment for the effect of air, the comparable `true value' for these data is 734.5 (considerably smaller than the actual measurements). Michelson used a modification of Foucault's 1850 experimental method which consisted of passing light from a source off a rapidly rotating mirror to a distant fixed mirror, and back to the rotating mirror. Presumably the five sets of 20 measurements are in time sequence. From Stigler (1977 Annals of Statistics, p.1073-1076, Table 6).
A data frame with 100 observations on the following 2 variables.
lplot(michelson$velocity,michelson$set) bplot(michelson$velocity,michelson$set)