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Michelson-Morley experiment (view source)
Revision as of 17:47, October 13, 2012
, 17:47, October 13, 2012adding references
{{rewrite|[[Wolfram]] has a better explanation}}
{{rewrite|[[Wolfram]] has a better explanation}}
The '''Michelson-Morley experiment''' was as important to physics as was [[Semmelweis]] and [[Pasteur]]'s research into the [[germ theory of disease]].
The '''Michelson-Morley experiment''' was as important to physics as was [[Semmelweis]] and [[Pasteur]]'s research into the [[germ theory of disease]].
Performed in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, the experiment attempted to measure the motion of the earth through the [[aether]] and failed to do so. This unexpected failure lead to the [[Theory of relativity]]. Michelson got the Nobel Prize for it in 1907.
Performed in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, the experiment attempted to measure the motion of the earth through the [[aether]] and failed to do so.<ref name="CSR">{{cite book
|author=Moshe Carmeli
|title=Cosmological Special Relativity, The Large-Scale Structure of Space, Time and Velocity, 2nd Edition
|publisher=World Scientific Publishing
|year=2002
|pages=38, 43
|url=http://www.creationbookpublishers.com/products/Without-Excuse.html
|isbn=9-789-02-4936-5
|quote=The special theory of relativity was developed by Einstein in 1905 in order to overcome and correct certain basic concepts that were in use at that time, such as asymmetries in relative motion of bodies. Examples of relative motion in electrodynamics, and the unsuccessful attempt to detect the motion of the Earth by the experiment of Michelson and Morley, suggested that the phenomena of electrodynamics and mechanics do not depend on the Newtonian notion of absolute rest. Rather, the laws of electrodynamics should be valid in all frames of references in which the equations of mechanics are valid. ... Lorentz invariance is in accordance with the Michelson-Morley null experiment which showed that on the moving Earth light spreads with the same speed in all directions.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|author=Alfred North Whitehead
|title=Science and the Modern World
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|year=1926, 2011
|url=http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item6461182/?site_locale=en_GB
|isbn=978-0-521-23778-9
|quote=Now the point is that nothing was observed. There was no shifting as you turned instrument round. The conclusion is either that the Earth is always stationary in the ether, or that there is something wrong with the fundamental principles on which the interpretation of the experiment relies.
}}</ref> This unexpected failure lead to the [[Theory of relativity]]. Michelson got the Nobel Prize for it in 1907.
== Historical Background ==
== Historical Background ==