Michelson-Morley Experiment with explanations
Any civilization tries to appear as the most "brilliant in the area of knowledge." For example, the Ptolemy system was used as a fundamental one for many centuries until Copernicus' point of view destroyed it. The Michelcon-Morley experiment plays a similar role in physics, hiding its fundamental meaning from humankind for decades.
Einstein, failure, error, physics, philosophy, one-way experiment, round-trip experiment, z-theory
It is time to return to some of the articles given above on this site. They show the fundamental law of the Earth-bound measuring instrument that measures the propagation of any disturbance in the medium. Those disturbances can be electrical fields, magnetic fields, electromagnetic radiation, and so on. The propagation of those disturbances depends on the physical aspects of that medium.
Every one-way measurement shows its duration, which depends on the orientation of the planet
One-way experiments show unequal duration in forward and backward disturbance propagation. However, a round-trip experiment in any orientation of a measuring instrument keeps a constant duration because deviation of forward propagation becomes compensated by deviation of backward propagation.
The duration of a round-trip experiment conducted by a measuring instrument located on the Earth's surface remains constant regardless of the orientation of the Earth (as a result of statements 1 and 2)
The duration of forward propagation never coincides with the duration of backward propagation for an Earth-bound measuring instrument
- Allan Zade
Therefore, any round-trip experiment gives a constant value if the Earth keeps its speed on that medium. Is there any experiment that confirms that constant? Yes, there is one “fundamental” experiment that confirms it. It was named after the persons who conducted it (A.A. Michelson and Edward Morley) and is known today as the Michelson-Morley experiment.
Allan gives you some references to help you better understand those people.
A.A. Michelson, in full Albert Abraham Michelson, (born December 19, 1852, Strelno, Prussia [now Strzelno, Poland]—died May 9, 1931, Pasadena, California, U.S.), German-born American physicist who established the speed of light as a fundamental constant and pursued other spectroscopic and metrological investigations. He received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Physics.
Michelson came to the United States with his parents when he was two years old. From New York City the family made its way to Virginia City, Nevada, and San Francisco, where the elder Michelson prospered as a merchant. At age 17 Michelson entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, where he did well in science but was rather below average in seamanship. He graduated in 1873 and served as science instructor at the academy from 1875 until 1879.
- Ref. # 1
Edward Williams Morley, (born Jan. 29, 1838, Newark, N.J., U.S.—died Feb. 24, 1923, West Hartford, Conn.), American chemist who is best known for his collaboration with the physicist A.A. Michelson in an attempt to measure the relative motion of the Earth through a hypothetical ether.
Morley graduated from Williams College in 1860 and then pursued both scientific and theological studies. He took up a Congregational pastorate in Ohio in 1868 and in the following year joined the faculty of Western Reserve College, remaining with the school when it moved to Cleveland in 1882 and became Western Reserve University. He continued to teach there until his retirement in 1906. From 1873 to 1888 he also taught at the Cleveland Medical School.
His reputation as a skilled experimenter attracted the attention of Michelson, then at the nearby Case School of Applied Science.
- Ref. # 2
The following citation gives you a short description of the experiment.
Michelson-Morley experiment was an attempt to detect the velocity of Earth with respect to the hypothetical luminiferous ether, a medium in space proposed to carry light waves. First performed in Germany in 1880–81 by the physicist A.A. Michelson, the test was later refined in 1887 by Michelson and Edward W. Morley in the United States.
- Ref. # 3
It was an edge experiment because it was the first time anyone had conducted such an experiment. Therefore, Michelson's "knowledge" or speculations were apriori knowledge.
Michelson speculated this. Something keeps a constant distance between two points of measurement in the observer-bound reference frame. It can be a physical rod or another device.
The observer sends a disturbance (a light beam in this case) from the first point of measurement to another point of measurement (from A to C). That disturbance bounces back from a specific device located at point C (a mirror, for example) and returns to the first point of measurement (A).
The observer determines the duration of a round-trip disturbance propagation. The following figure graphically shows this method of measurement.
Fig.1: The general idea of Michelson-Morley experiment