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originally humans interacting with nature has been questioned about the phenomena that occur constantly. In order to understand and try to manipulate these "events" are formulated theories, which can be considered as "truths" until proven otherwise, once defined if it is indeed false, it is discarded, but if true it becomes law.
A clear example of a theory "dead" or discarded, is claiming that the Earth was flat or the geocentric theory of Ptolemy and beyond the second century BC, which was accepted in his time until Copernicus proved that claimed; commenting that the Sun was the body that is located in the "center" of the Solar System, this occurred in the mid-sixteenth century.
Another theory was rejected so-called "theory of the ether." The physical theory of the late nineteenth century postulated that, like the waves and sound are waves need a medium to transport (like water or air), light will also need a medium called "ether." As the speed of light is so great, design an experiment to detect the presence of ether was very difficult.
The purpose of Michelson and Morley was to measure the relative speed at which the Earth moves relative to the ether.
Each year the Earth travels a tremendous distance in its orbit around the Sun at a speed of 30 km / s (100,000 km / h). It was believed that the direction of "ether wind" with respect to the position of our star vary as measured from Earth, and so could be detected. For this reason, and to avoid the effects that could cause the sun in the "wind" as it moves through space, the experiment should be conducted at various times of the year.
The effect of ether wind on light waves would be like a flowing river on a swimmer who moves for or against it. At times the swimmer would be slowed and in other driven. This is what I thought would happen to the light to reach Earth in different positions with respect to the ether, should arrive with different speeds. The key is that round trip, the speed difference is very small, the order of a millionth of a millionth of a second. However, Michelson, very experienced with the measurement of the speed of light, devised a way to measure this minimal difference.
Ironically, after all this preparation, the experiment was flawed, but successful. Instead of showing the properties of ether, there was no change in speed of light and, therefore, any effects that the "ether wind" had to produce. The device behaves as if there were "ether wind." This remarkable result could not be explained by the theory of waves existing at the time. Many explanations were attempted, such as the Earth somehow dragged himself ether, but they all turned out to be incorrect.
Ernst Mach was among the first physicists to regard the outcome of the experiment was appropriate and suggested a new theory. The investigations initiated as a result of the experiment led to a consistent alternative theory, the Lorentz contraction, which explained the null result obtained. The development of this theory led to Einstein's special relativity.
Source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimento_de_Michelson_y_Morley
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