MICHELSON AND MORLEY EXPERIMENT
EXPLANATION WITH CLASSIC PHYSIC

INDEX

Section 1) Einstein's theory where it comes from?
Section 2) Focal displacement with light speed change
A) If Einstein was wrong the effect on space telescope
B) Wave theory and focal displacement in reflection
Section 3) Hubble proves our theory
A) It was not a structural defect.
B) Astronomers comments for near objects
C) Astronomers comments for far objects
D) Press release as published
Section 4) Theory light propagation
Section 5) Michelson Morley experiment
Section 6) Details of calculations

interferomètre de Michelson Morley

5) MICHELSON AND MORLEY EXPERIMENT

A- Michelson and Morley (1887)

At the time it was believe that light needed a medium to travel, it was called "ether". The purpose of the experiment was to detect the movement of the earth through ether. Remember the earth describe a circular orbit around the sun in one year. From the orbit radius we obtain a tangent speed for the earth around the sun of 3 km/s. To this we have to add the earth rotational speed .05 km/sec.
If ether exist Michelson concluded that it would be impossible to tie it down to the earth speed. At worst it could accidentally be immobile for a given time in relation to the earth. This stationary situation could only be momentarily.
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Now if you look at the drawing you see two total mirrors "B" and "C". The light in blue from the sun falls on the half mirror "A" so that the rays are split between mirror "B" and "C". In the experiment the arm "AB" "AC" of the interferometer are placed parallel or at right angle to the earth speed. Michelson than obtained something he was not expecting. He could not get a variation in the interference figure of the two light rays coming back from mirror "B" and "C". Because of the speed of the earth they should have returned to the observer with a phase shift. Later Eisntein propose that space and time will expand or contract in order to explain the result of the experiment.

B-Explication with classic physic
See : Propagation of light the theory

i) Introduction :
In a previous article we showed how the speed of light in free space was measured faster than the constant "c" which obviously disprove Einstein's theory. In the same article we proposed a model for light propagation to explain Michelson's experiment using classic physics.
Now we will apply the theory to Michelson's experiment. Doing so we demonstrate that the two light rays come back from the mirrors "C" and "B" at the same speed independently of the earth motion. Therefore the light interference figure would remain unchanged when varying the arms' positions "AC" and "AB" in relation to the speed of the earth V' on the diagram.

ii) The photons do not bounce off a wall like a ball would :
From our theory the light coming from the sun leaves the mirror "A" towards the mirror "C" and "B", at the speed "c" (300 000 km/s ) relatively to mirror "A".
It is a mistake to think that the photons bounce back like a ball or that they can go through a solid. That the photons can cross a block of solid glass but not a concrete block is not comprehensible. In the reference article See : Theory Speed of light we give more explanations. The photons do not bounce off the mirror surface as we always presumed before. Instead they are absorbed by the mirror's first layers atoms' electrons as we explained in the previous article. It is the atoms' electrons that will then emit new photons, carbon copy of the first ones.

iii) The speed of light is always emited at "c" 300 000 km/s
The key point to understanding Michelson's experiment is : "the speed of the new photons of light leaving the mirrors will be by rule at "c" the universal constant relatively to the mirror's atoms". Yes the absolute photons speed could be greater or smaller than "c" if the mirrors are moving. Since all mirrors are moving with the earth the observer will not see any changes in speed from one mirror to an other, nor a phase shift. It is as if light travels through ether as the medium and the ether is moving with the earth just as air does. It was probably the first conclusion that Michelson and Morley reached. But it is illogical to say that ether is moving with the earth. No there is no ether it is a like condition, the experiment confirms our theory of light propagation. (It would be different if the observer was standing in a fixed position out in space. For him the velocities would be different for the path "A to C" and "A to B", he would be seeing the absolute velocity).

iv) Analogy :

Imagine two swimmers in a swimming pool on a boat. One swims in the way of the boat the other across. For an observer on the boat, the relative motion between the swimmers is not related to the boat speed. The swimmers' speed is relative to the water's atoms. Can you see the analogy, the boat is the earth and the swimmers are the photons. An observer on the boat or on the earth (for our experiment), see the relative motions between the swimmers or the photons independently of the global system displacement speed. Again that illustration explain why Michelson did not see a difference in the speed of light. Michelson's experiment confirms our theory. Einstein's theory of relativity is not necessary there is no need to shrink or expand space and time to match the results. We can explain what happens with classic physic. We have no reason to believe that the speed of light is by nature fixed at 300 000 km/sec. The KISS principle holds true, Keep It Simple, therefore we have no reason to believe in the special relativity theory. As a matter of fact, in the reference article See : Speed of light. we show how we measured a speed of light greater than the constant "c". If it was not done before it is because we did not know how.