When a plate of thickness 0.05 mm is placed in the path of a Michaelson Interferometer, a shift of 100 fringes is observed for a light of wavelength 5000 Å. What is the refractive index of the plate?

The Michelson-Morley experiment was an attempt to measure the Earth's motion relative to the luminiferous aether. The aether was a hypothetical substance that 19th century physicists believed was essential for the transmission of light.  The experiment was first performed in 1880–81 by physicist A.A. Michelson, and later refined in 1887. The experiment set up a race between a light beam traveling across stream and back, and another traveling upstream.  Michelson and Morley expected to find that the two light beams would arrive at the detector at different times. Instead, they found that... Show more

The Michelson-Morley experiment was an attempt to measure the Earth's motion relative to the luminiferous aether. The aether was a hypothetical substance that 19th century physicists believed was essential for the transmission of light. 
The experiment was first performed in 1880–81 by physicist A.A. Michelson, and later refined in 1887. The experiment set up a race between a light beam traveling across stream and back, and another traveling upstream. 
Michelson and Morley expected to find that the two light beams would arrive at the detector at different times. Instead, they found that light always moved at the same speed, regardless of direction. This indicated that the aether does not exist. 

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