| In 1887 Albert Michelson and Edward Morley attempted to measure Earth’s speed with respect to the ether, a hypothetical substance thought to fill empty space. Their apparatus split a beam of light so that half went straight ahead and half went sideways. If the ether existed, they theorized, it should exert more of a drag on one of the beams than on the other as Earth moves through the ether along its orbit. They found no evidence of a difference in speed, however, which led to the demise of the ether theory. |
Hotmail
Messenger
My MSN
MSN Directory
