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. Show less
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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