Michelson-Morley-Experiment

A video I made for a school presentation back in 2007

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Michelson
• Morley
• Einstein
• Äther
• Ether

[idiotkrati]

So both of the lights enter the detector at the same time, showing that there is no ether ?

[w4Yp0iNt]

exactly

[ActiveStorage]

why cant the medium be static? so it wont affect the way the light moves?

[w4Yp0iNt]

what do you mean by "static"? I'm not sure whether this answers your question but actually this experiment was accomplished a few times, each time the table on which the experiment was built upon was turned a little arround it's own axis.

[nvsvictor]

I still don't understand one aspect. How does this prove that ether doesn't exist?

If ether existed, then we should see an interference pattern?

[w4Yp0iNt]

exactly

[TaylerKnox]

But like uhmm what's about virtual particles - dark matter - dark energy - I mean even in a vacuum there's no vacuum - vacuum is a concept - thus field effects and mass even where we believe nothing exists - maybe the ether is the membrane? Think about that? We call it M theory.

[rdsbarros]

@idiotkrati Not necessarily. The experiment can be interpreted how a proof by the Earth is immobile in aether. But this smells like geocentrism and the physics prefer to burn themselves alive instead to admit it. By this reason, we have the suspicious relativity's theory.

[u9p87]

good video for visual purposes. but in actual fact, the compensator plate is missing, is should be placed behind the beam splitter (but in front of the mirror) and also parallel to the beam splitter.

[peeik]

@nvsvictor The exp was not to prove whether or not the ether existed. It was to measure earths velocity relative to the ether. Because there was no interference pattern, it made M+M confused and puzzled. Einstein then said it was not necessary to use the ether model to explain the propagation of light, instead he showed that light speed is constant in all frames of reference; thus explaining the same interference pattern regardless of rotation.

[peeik]

(part 3)

When they got the result, they found the inteference pattern was identical. This contradicted the physicists hypothesis. The reason for why the rays interference pattern was the same because the speed of light is constant is all frames of reference thus not needing the aether model to explain lights propagation. final remark, the aim of the MM exp was not to prove that the ether model existed. Hope this helps, and ask me questions if your unsure.

[peeik]

(part 2)

The vert and horiz rays then meet at the detector recording a distinct interference pattern. They then re-did the experiment at a different angle (90 degs) so now the vertical ray's speed will change relative to the horiz ray (due to the shift in ether wind) hence making a different interference pattern at the detector as the physicist hypothesised.

[peeik]

(part 1)

Hm...i think there is some misunderstanding about the MM exp, so im going to try and clear it up. The aim of the MM experiment was to find earth's velocity relative to the ether (aether). As the ether was thought to permeate all of space, then as the earth orbited around the sun it will cause a wind known as the ether wind. Therefore (due to the direction of the ether wind), the speed of the horizontal light rays will increase/ decrease relative to the vertical rays. ----see continue

[Agui007]

Look into Dr Nikolai A. Kozyrev

[CACBCCCU]

It's basically an impulsive aether jerk-meter, to be precise. It can detect a hypothetical aether dirift impulse (fittingly called here an "aether jerk") of around one millimeter or greater magnitude, but only if it happens in less than 1/4 the time it takes for light to pass through the device. Why, you might ask, can't people just use their brains to detect such an aether jerk - thinking it would be hard to miss. Well, I have no good answer for that. Power line interference? Loud noises?