Definition of michelson-morley experiment Michelson-morley experiment
Mi•chel•son•Mor•ley ex•per•i•ment
We found 2 definitions of michelson-morley experiment from 2 different sources.
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What does michelson-morley experiment mean?
WordNet
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| michelson-morley experiment - a celebrated experiment conducted by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley; their failure to detect any influence of the earth's motion on the velocity of light was the starting point for Einstein's theory of relativity |
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Wikipedia 
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The Michelson-Morley experiment was a scientific experiment to find the speed of a substance called Aether. Aether is something that was believed to fill empty space. The experiment was done by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley.
Since waves in water need something to move in (water) and sound waves do as well (air), it was believed that light also needed something to move in. Scientists in the 18th century named this substance "aether," after the Greek god of light. They believed that aether was all around us and that it also filled the vacuum of space. Michelson and Morley created this experiment to try and prove the theory that aether existed. They did this with a device called an interferometer.
The experiment.
The Earth travels very quickly (100,000 km per hour) around the Sun. If aether exists, the Earth moving through it would cause a "wind" in the same way that there seems to be a wind outside a moving car. To a person in the car, the air outside the car would seem like a moving substance. In the same way, aether should seem like a moving substance to things on Earth.
The interferometer was designed to measure the speed and direction of the "aether wind" by measuring the difference between the speed of light traveling in different directions. It measured this difference by shining a beam of light into a mirror that was only partially coated in silver. Part of the beam would be reflected one way, and the rest would go the other. Those two parts would then be reflected
