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Michelson-Morley Experiment (1 Viewer)

deneahjade

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I'm struggling to find information regarding the impact of the results of the M-M experiment upon the scientific community.
Any help?
 

Dementured

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Result of the experiment was null - they weren't able to determine the speed of Earth through the aether. The result led to Einstein's theory of relativity.
 

AnimeX

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I'm struggling to find information regarding the impact of the results of the M-M experiment upon the scientific community.
Any help?
So although absence of evidence is not evidence for absence, the null result of the M&M experiment supported Einstein's theory of the speed of light being constant [due to its nature to be stationary, permeates all matter, invisible etc].
 

strawberrye

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Depending on how many marks in the exam, you can actually elaborate further, i.e. the impact of the MM experiment-remember the concept of aether at the time underlined many physics theory, and hence, the consistency of the null result obtained-despite different altitudes and geographic location-can arguably be
1) it compelled other independent groups to repeat the experiment, getting the same results-and hence confirm the reliability of the result
2)it may not have necessarily lead to Einstein formulating his theory of special relativity-I read it in a textbook somewhere that Einstein did not know about the experiment at the time, but rather, it unintentionally provided experimental proof for the first postulate of the special theory of relativity-which is the speed of light is constant c, so if both frames of reference are inertial, no mechanical experiment will be able to differentiate speed of light variations in the same medium-i.e. air/vacuum
3)It actually stimulated discussions, i.e. it compelled opponents of the experiment-i.e. supporters of the aether model to propose a variety of non-experimentally proven explanations as modifications of the aether model to explain the experimental results-but without experimental evidence, not very strong argument
4) it compelled sceptics of the aether model to support Einstein's theory of special relativity, and since Einstein now has experimental proof for a part of his theory, it means that more people within the scientific community was more readily willing to accept his theory-and therefore start to test for the preceding implications i.e. mass dilation etc-it is likely had it not been for MM experiment, no one could have paid much attention to Einstein's theory-because it was all theoretical and current technology at the time were inadequate to provide experimental proof
 

MilkDrinker

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Some information:
The experiment was repeated many times by M&M, at different times of the day and year, but no evidence of an aether wind was ever found. The M&M experiment has been repeated many times since 1887 by different groups with more and more sensitive equipment, and no evidence of an aether has ever been found. Yet belief in the necessity of the aether was so strong that physics found t difficult to let go of the idea until in 1905, Albert Einstein showed that the aether was not necessary at all.

With hindsight, the result of the M&M experiment has been able to help scientists of the 20th century to reject the aether model and accept Einstein’s relativity. In this sense, it has been an important experiment in helping others to decide between the competing theories, along with the comparative success of relativity experiments.

Some more information:
Technically this experiment did not disprove the existence of the aether. It did not provide evidence for its existence although it was calculated that it should have been sensitive enough to detect it if it did exist. The ‘null result’ for the M&M experiment can be explained if there is no aether and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the speed of the source and the observer. That is, the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the speed of the source and the observer. That is, the speed of light is a universal constant for all observers independent of their velocity. The M&M experiment was crucial because it enabled one f the main predictions of the aether model to be experimentally tested. Experiments like this can be used to indicate which of the two competing theories is correct. These results and theory of special relativity eventually led to the universal acceptance that i) the aether does not exist and ii) EM waves are unique in that they do not require a medium. Einstein said he did not set out to explain the null result of the M&M experiment; he based his ideas on the predictions of Maxwell’s equations.

These are just out of my notes and text books
 

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