![]() ![]() (Taken from ) Today, as technology improves, the speed of light reaches a more and more precise value. Due to this experiment, and the work of Einstein, the theory of ether was also disproved. Although the experiment was a failure, and no interference was observed (as ether does not exist), Michelson used the device to produce an even more accurate measurement of the speed of light being 299,909 km/s. As a result, he teamed up with a fellow scientist, Edward Morley, and built an interferometer, to monitor the interferences they expected due to the ether. ![]() (Taken from: ) However, at that time, in addition to the speed of light, scientists were also intrigued about the nature of light, which led Michelson to also experiment with the concept of the theory of ether, which he believed in. ![]() Based on the knowledge of the rate of rotation, distance to the mirror, and the number of teeth on the cog, the speed of light was calculated to be 313,000 km/s.į= the lowest frequency of rotation to cause the light to reflect off a different face of the prism to reflect directly at the observer This method was used at Mount Wilson and Mount San Antonio, as shown in the below diagram, achieving result of 299,909 km/s. As the light could be blocked by the teeth in the rotating cogwheel, it passing through to reach the observer depended on the rate of rotation. It involved directing a beam of light several thousand metres away at a glass plate, reflecting it into a mirror which ultimately directs the beam through a rotating cogwheel to an observer. Naturally, it was far more complex than the previous experiments but was far more accurate. #ADVANCED PHYSICS STEVE ADAMS JONATHAN ALLDAY PDF MERGER SERIES#After that measurement, a series of breakthroughs followed, the most significant being Armand Fizeau’s experiment in 1849, being the first successful artificial quantitative measurement, not relying merely on naturally existing entities such as stars, as his predecessors had done. Hence, he produced an estimate of 298,000 km/s which is surprisingly accurate for his time, which effectively destroyed the argument of light possessing an infinite speed. ![]() This shook the scientific community strongly, and caused many scientists to regard the issue with greater importance.Īnd using the value of the Earth’s orbital speed known at the time. Ibn al-Haytham published his Book of Optics in 1021, which indicated that the speed of light, backed by a huge array of experimentation. Perhaps due to Aristotle’s considerable reputation, most early Muslim philosophers agreed with his view, though this did not stop the opposing flow of ideas. Indeed, Aristotle said himself that ‘the strain upon our powers of belief is too great’. One can observe that despite the hypotheses, the level of technology and knowledge was too basic to produce solid evidence, leaving the problem to be unresolved until 18th century. Some, including Empedocles believed that the speed of light must be finite, as it was something in motion though others such as the infamous Aristotle, believed that the speed of light was infinite, who said that ‘light is due to the presence of something, but it is not movement’. Naturally, the earliest accounts about the speed of light date back to the time of the Greeks, where the issue was whether the speed of light was finite or infinite. ![]()
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