Both a daily and annual periodic change in aether direction is forecast, based on the HC model. The annual change is due to the orbital speed of the Earth and is 30 times greater than the equatorial spin.
The aberration boat model can be conceptually transferred to comparing the motion of a photon up/down an aether stream with motion cross-stream. In the diagram above a beam split into 2 half beams at a right angle and then compared for a phase difference when combined on the interferometer screen. See below for a typical fringe pattern.
The disappointment was reflected in the summarizing term – a ‘null’ result.
Box plots from the Michelson–Morley experiment
The experimental error analysis of 5 runs shows that the M&MX SoL average was always greater than c, and only one set of error ranges overlapped the value of c.
Although this result is consistent with an Earth and an aether approximately at rest, this option was not listed among the four options for interpretation given in Michelson’s conclusion.
The search for the aether effectively ended with Einstein’s paper on SR in 1905. Albert E said no aether was needed, while Albert M ignored the Earth and aether at rest!
Note: this experiment is small-scale and low precision; the use of transverse flow means the accuracy is of
second order ~ (v/ c)2
Conclusion: …. the Earth is at rest and the surface aether speed is zero.
1 comments:
The result they got was within experimental error and they could take the result as zero. They could take a number of conclusions:
1) The speed of the Earth relative to the aether was zero.
2) the speed of light was independent of direction.
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