Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
1,505,245,934 visitors served.
forum mailing list For webmasters
?
New: Language forums
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

Michelson-Morley experiment

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Acronyms 0.04 sec.

Michelson-Morley experiment

Attempt to detect the velocity of the Earth with respect to ether, a hypothetical medium in space formerly proposed to carry light waves. It was first performed in Berlin in 1881 by A.A. Michelson and refined in the U.S. in 1887 by Michelson and Edward W. Morley (1838–1923). The procedure assumed that if the speed of light were constant with respect to the ether, the motion of the Earth could be detected by comparing the speed of light in the direction of the Earth's motion and the speed of light at right angles to the Earth's motion. No difference was found, and the result discredited the ether theory. As a result, Albert Einstein proposed in 1905 that the speed of light is a universal constant.



How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Email
Feedback
? Mentioned in
 
Encyclopedia browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.