Search Members Help

» Welcome Guest
[ Log In :: Register ]

 

[ Track This Topic :: Email This Topic :: Print this topic ]

 reply to topic new topic new poll
Topic: michelson morley experiment< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
 Post Number: 1
KL1NK Search for posts by this member.
the guy behind the guy
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 161
Joined: Jan. 2001
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,00:58  Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Does anyone know about the Michelson Morley experiment? I have to give a presentation on it tomorrow in physics and I'm kind of confused on some of the concepts of it. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info WEB 
 Post Number: 2
CatKnight Search for posts by this member.
Jedi Republican
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 3807
Joined: Dec. 2000
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,01:03 Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
they were the two guys that tried to prove that the ether existed, but failed miserably in fact they ended up proving it didn't exist!

Anyway, before we knew about photons and electroweak stuff, physicists thought that al types of waves had to propogate through a medium, e.g. sound through air, they thought light traveled through an ether, that existed everywhere.

they designed an experiment that consisted of some sort of cart with mirrors pointing in perpendicular directions. if the ether existed, then the speed of light measured going in the direction of travel should be different from the perpendicular direction, due to "ether drag" i guess. anyway they turned out to be the same.

*note: i typed this from memory and it might be slightly innaccurate. so don't quote me.

Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info WEB 
 Post Number: 3
KL1NK Search for posts by this member.
the guy behind the guy
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 161
Joined: Jan. 2001
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,01:21 Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Thanks. Does the earth's velocity fit in there anywhere? Most of the stuff I'm reading seems to say the experiment was to determine the earth's velocity with respect to ether. (is that basically the same thing?)
Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info WEB 
 Post Number: 4
CatKnight Search for posts by this member.
Jedi Republican
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 3807
Joined: Dec. 2000
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,01:29 Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
uh... they may have done something like that... ?
Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info WEB 
 Post Number: 5
Non Search for posts by this member.
Angelheaded Hipster
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 406
Joined: May 2001
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,02:00 Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Man you are way off.
Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info 
 Post Number: 6
KL1NK Search for posts by this member.
the guy behind the guy
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 161
Joined: Jan. 2001
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,02:25 Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
I figured it out. Luckily I had a copy of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time laying around.
Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info WEB 
 Post Number: 7
DuSTman Search for posts by this member.
70% water in a flexible container.
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 797
Joined: May 2000
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,07:33 Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Yeah.. the experiment was actually designed to measure the "aether wind" - or the velocity we happened to be going relative to this magical medium of light, and in this respect it was an abject failure..

But it's failure proved the speed of light was the same in any inertial frame, which suprised everyone..

This shows the apparatus used. (yeah, fear my poor graphics skills etc)

The partially silvered mirror splitted the beam into two which were then reflected back by the respective fully silvered mirrors. and the partially silvered mirror again lets through some radiation but reflects the rest.. this results in two beams going towards the telescope from the partially silvered mirror, which had taken different paths. As a result, interference patterns are observed through the telescope.

The entire apparatus is then rotated 90 degrees to see the change in the interference pattern. This is then repeated 6 months later (when the earth is on the other side of the sun, so would be going in a different direction relative to the "aether wind".)

No change in the interference fringes was in fact observed either while rotating it 90 degrees or observing 6 months later..

This message has been edited by DuSTman on May 30, 2001 at 06:30 AM

Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info 
 Post Number: 8
CatKnight Search for posts by this member.
Jedi Republican
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 3807
Joined: Dec. 2000
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,10:58 Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
eh close enough
Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info WEB 
 Post Number: 9
KL1NK Search for posts by this member.
the guy behind the guy
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 161
Joined: Jan. 2001
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,12:20 Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE
Thanks DuSTman
Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info WEB 
 Post Number: 10
Dark Knight Bob Search for posts by this member.
qunt
Avatar



Group: Members
Posts: 2180
Joined: Sep. 2001
PostIcon Posted on: May 29 2001,12:53 Skip to the previous post in this topic.  Ignore posts   QUOTE
its surprising how such a simple and strangely enuff boring eexperiment can be used to prove that the ether dont exist. i mean our physics teacher one lecture just set it up and said "today i'm gonna show you how the ehter dont exist" and it took like 10 seconds

------------------
It's not that i'm celibate, it's just i don't give a fuck.

Offline
Top of Page Profile Contact Info 
9 replies since May 29 2001,00:58 < Next Oldest | Next Newest >

[ Track This Topic :: Email This Topic :: Print this topic ]


  		reply to topic new topic new poll

» Quick Reply michelson morley experiment
iB Code Buttons
You are posting as:

Do you wish to enable your signature for this post?
Do you wish to enable emoticons for this post?
Track this topic
View All Emoticons
View iB Code