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Michelson & Morley Experiment

Michelson & Morley Experiment. Josh Fjelstul Andrew Vavra Robert Villarreal Michelle Vivoli Shelby Wallace Rachel Zarosky. Luminiferous Ether. Light as a transverse wave Propagate through matter Gaseous ether Rigid at high frequencies, fluid at low “Still” frame of reference.

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Michelson & Morley Experiment

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  1. Michelson & Morley Experiment Josh Fjelstul Andrew Vavra Robert Villarreal Michelle Vivoli Shelby Wallace Rachel Zarosky

  2. Luminiferous Ether Light as a transverse wave Propagate through matter Gaseous ether Rigid at high frequencies, fluid at low “Still” frame of reference

  3. Michelson’s intent • We think the ether exists • Earth must be constantly travelling through the ether • I can estimate how the ether will affect light beams travelling at different angles • All I need to do is find a way to record it

  4. The experiment • The interferometer sends light at two angles, 90 degrees apart • By running the experiment in every direction, the interference should be evident no matter which direction the ether flows

  5. How it works

  6. How it works The semi-silvered mirror reflects about half of the light in each direction

  7. How it works The ether passes through the interferometer It affects one beam more than the other like swimmers travelling at different directions in moving water

  8. How it works This light would have one wavelength This light should have two slightly different wavelengths and exhibit interference between the two, like the laser fringing we saw earlier in the semester

  9. How it was carried out • Michelson tried his experiment in 1881 and it failed to detect the ether • He wrote it off as imperfections with his interferometer or testing environment

  10. The second attempt • Michelson tried his experiment again at the Case Western Reserve University with his colleague Morley. • He developed a better interferometer • To the surprise of the scientific community, he still could not prove the existence of the ether

  11. Results of the Experiment • Speed of the Earth through the ether was zero • Showed that there is no need for any ether at all • Appeared that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the speed of the observer

  12. Why They Thought the Experiment Failed • No fringe shift was observed when the interferometer was rotated • Expected shift to be small, but should have been observable • Found no discernible fringes indicating different speeds

  13. Null Results • Discredited the ether hypothesis • Special theory of relativity reconciled the results of the experiment

  14. Einstein's Contribution • Einstein proposed the theory of special relativity in 1905, at which time he did not know about the Michelson-Morley experiment • The theory of special relativity quickly replaced the theory of a luminiferous ether • Special relativity does not allow for the existence of a universal frame of reference

  15. SpecialRelativity • The theory of special relativity has two postulates: • The laws of physics are the same in any inertial frame of reference • The speed of light in a vacuum is the same in any inertial frame of reference, regardless of the relative motion of the source and the observer • Special relativity eliminates the theoretical need for a fixed ether

  16. Implications • The theory of special relativity allows us to make a number of surprising predictions: • Time dilation • Length dilation • Mass and energy equivalence

  17. Implication of Experiments • The Kennedy–Thorndike experiment • The modification is to make one arm of the classical Michelson–Morley apparatus shorter than the other one. While the Michelson-Morley experiment showed, that the speed of light is independent of the orientationof the apparatus, • the Kennedy–Thorndike experiment showed that it is also independent of the velocity of the apparatus .

  18. Recent Experiments •  Roy J. Kennedy and K. K. Illingworth both modified the mirrors and the apparatus itself. • Kennedy narrow the difference to 1/1500th • Illingworth came up with even finer tuning to 1/300th . • Others from around the world continued experimenting with the interferometer increased accuracy.

  19. New Parading of Thinking (Transformational Science) • People started thinking differently about time and space. - Dilation of time was brought up. -Twin Paradox Theory - The idea we can travel to far places • Implications in Philosophy - Kants Epistemology (space & time)

  20. Technological Implications • Better interferometers • New frontiers of Science and Quantum mechanics. -quantum entanglement • Time- space causality • Relativity Pretty much started a Foundation of Science.

  21. Recent Experiment • Charles H. Townes was one first to combine the results all of these experiments and started doing his work from there. • Was the co-creator of the maser, which was later developed into the laser.

  22. Q&A

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