Hahaha, Alice In Wonderland, you are clearly doing HSC physics!! Yay!
Anyway, here is the reason: special relativity did not explain the null result of the M-M experiment - the explanation of the null result was that there is no aether!... what you want to know is:
The problem was that the speed of light had been measured, but nobody knew what it was relative to (the classical theory of relativity states that it is impossible to determine absolute velocity - everything is relative) So, at the time of the M-M experiement (1887) the accepted model of light was the 'aether model' (light was a wave which travelled though 'the aether' at 3x10^8 m/s) because it explained what c was relative to - the aether! (a perfectly non-viscous, incompressible, mobile liquid which fills all space).
Although the M-M experiment obtained a null result, public opinion did not change until Einstein's special theory of relativity superceded the 'aether model'. Einstein's theory began with two postulates: 1. that the principle of classical relativity hold in all frames of reference, and 2. that the speed of light is the same for all observers. So now the speed of light was considered as relative to everything - in other words a constant and a limit. Einstein built his theory around J.C. Maxwell's theory of light as electromagnetic radiation - that is why light can travel through vacuums in Einstein's model.
--> This is a weird question, but I think it is essential to talk about the classical theory of relativity which led to the need to find what c is relative to, which led to the development of the aether model, which failed and was superceded by special relativity with light as an EM wave and with c relative to everything...
Hope this helps -- I bit vague, sorry!
Now you can answer my question about orbital decay :)
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Hahaha, Alice In Wonderland, you are clearly doing HSC physics!! Yay!
Anyway, here is the reason: special relativity did not explain the null result of the M-M experiment - the explanation of the null result was that there is no aether!... what you want to know is:
The problem was that the speed of light had been measured, but nobody knew what it was relative to (the classical theory of relativity states that it is impossible to determine absolute velocity - everything is relative) So, at the time of the M-M experiement (1887) the accepted model of light was the 'aether model' (light was a wave which travelled though 'the aether' at 3x10^8 m/s) because it explained what c was relative to - the aether! (a perfectly non-viscous, incompressible, mobile liquid which fills all space).
Although the M-M experiment obtained a null result, public opinion did not change until Einstein's special theory of relativity superceded the 'aether model'. Einstein's theory began with two postulates: 1. that the principle of classical relativity hold in all frames of reference, and 2. that the speed of light is the same for all observers. So now the speed of light was considered as relative to everything - in other words a constant and a limit. Einstein built his theory around J.C. Maxwell's theory of light as electromagnetic radiation - that is why light can travel through vacuums in Einstein's model.
--> This is a weird question, but I think it is essential to talk about the classical theory of relativity which led to the need to find what c is relative to, which led to the development of the aether model, which failed and was superceded by special relativity with light as an EM wave and with c relative to everything...
Hope this helps -- I bit vague, sorry!
Now you can answer my question about orbital decay :)