Michelson Experiment How Did the Term Paper

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If he adjusted the rate of rotation correctly he could be sure that the light upon returning to his lab hit the same mirror.

Michelson was able to calculate the speed of light from the speed of rotation of the wheel of a device at the center of a metal shack that he built, the distance that the light had traveled, and the angle of the light beam as it bounces back and forth through the mirrors (the Optics Institute of Southern California).

Michelson also attempted to measure the speed of light based on the movement of the earth. This was the Michelson-Morley experiment that proposes that the ether, a medium in space that is supposed to carry light waves (Astron Berkely Online), can affect the speed of light.

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The two scientists used Michelson's interferometer which splits a beam of light into two and sends them in a perpendicular direction (Davidson, 2003). Their experiment hypothesizes that if the earth moves within the ether, the light moving at the same direction as with the earth should be faster than the movement of the light that goes to a different direction relative to the earth's motion. However, based on the experiment that they conducted in response to this hypothesis, Michelson and Morley found no difference at all in the speed of the two light beams. Hence, they concluded that the ether does not exist and that the speed of light is constant......

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