The Michelson-Morley Paradox Solved is a treatise written by Justin Jacobs. It thoroughly examines the Michelson-Morley paradoxical null results and is written in a manner that is meant to make it approachable to the general public. In this article we expose the whole Section 8 of this treatise, which is the section where the author describes the main idea of its treatise.
THE REAL AND CORRECT THEORETICAL, EMPIRICAL & TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS FOR MICHELSON’S PARADOXICAL NULL RESULTS
The first real reason for Michelson’s null results is completely theoretical. Michelson was attempting to detect the absolute velocity of the Earth through the ether by detecting a theoretical difference between two theoretical time intervals for light rays to propagate in two different directions, with respect to the ether.
There were at least nine different ether theories concerning the theoretical difference in time intervals, or why such difference was not detected:
1) Lorentz’s 1886 stationary ether theory;
2) Fresnel’s 1818 theory that the ether was being partially dragged along by the Earth;
3) George Stokes’ 1845 theory that the ether was being totally dragged along by the Earth’s motion through it;
4) Maxwell’s 1879 ether displacement theory which compared light propagation on a moving Earth and on an absolutely stationary Earth;
5) the “ether wind” theory which should decrease the velocity of light in the direction of the Earth’s solar orbital motion;
6) Michelson’s theory that the longitudinal mirror in his apparatus would displace from stationary ether and a propagating light ray in the direction of the Earth’s solar orbital motion;
7) Michelson & Morley’s theory that both mirrors in their apparatus should be displacing differently from stationary ether;
8) Fitzgerald’s and Lorentz’s theory that the time interval difference existed but it could not be detected because of a physical contraction of matter; and
9) Einstein’s theory that the difference in time intervals should result from the way time coordinates are measured.
Theoretically, several of these different ether theories should have produced a specific time interval difference for light to propagate in a certain direction. But Michelson never detected any difference in the time interval for light to propagate in any different direction of the Earth’s motion through space, nor has anyone else.
Apparently, no one has ever realized that all of these absolute theories and theoretical positions, motions, dragging effects, displacements of mirrors, decreases in the speed of light, distance intervals and time intervals of light propagation, measurements of time coordinates, and mathematical calculations of the same, and many absolute expectations were based on one completely false and impossible assumption: the existence of a material substance called ether.
Since we now know that the concept of ether (stationary, dragged along, or otherwise) was only a manmade myth and does not exist, therefore the absolute place or position from which all of these theories, measurements, and computations were made or described also does not exist. In reality, all of these illusionary theories, “measurements,” “computations,” and expectations were made with respect to “nothing. As George Gamow stated in his 1961 book, “One cannot move with respect to nothing…one can speak only about the relative motion of a material body in respect to another [material body].” It also follows that one also cannot measure, describe, or calculate something with respect to nothing. In this regard, let us also quote from Richard Feynman,
“You can only define what you can measure! Since it is self-evident that one cannot measure a velocity without seeing what he is measuring it relative to, therefore it is clear that there is no meaning to absolute velocity. The physicists should have realized that they can talk only about what they can measure.”
These were the fundamental theoretical reasons why Michelson could not detect a greater distance/time interval for light to propagate in the absolute direction of the Earth’s solar orbital motion through space, or in any other absolute direction of the Earth’s motion through space. There was never anything to detect! Such a greater or increasing distance/time interval for light to propagate in any direction with respect to nothing simply does not exist. It was yet another ether myth. It is also self-evident that Michelson, Morley, Kennedy, Thorndike, and anyone else cannot detect (by any method) a time interval difference that does not exist. Their elaborate efforts to do so were always an absolutely meaningless mission impossible!
There was also another related theoretical problem: Michelson’s experiments, the Kennedy-Thorndike experiments, repetitions thereof, and similar experiments were always assumed, described, interpreted, and believed to have resulted in “null results,” because completely different results were absolutely expected. However, all of these so-called null results actually resulted in empirically positive results, again because there was nothing to detect.
There was no difference in “time intervals for light propagation through ether or space,” that could be detected. There was no greater distance or time interval for light to propagate between relatively stationary mirrors in any direction of the Earth’s motion through ether or space that could be detected. There was no decrease in the velocity of light in the direction of the Earth’s motion through ether that could be detected. There was no displacement of mirrors from a propagating light ray in the direction of the Earth’s solar orbital motion, through the ether that could be detected. The reason for all of these factors is that there is no such thing as stationary ether, ether wind, or dragged along ether which could be detected either.
The scientific community simply refused to believe in all of these empirical results, and it still does. There is a huge lesson to be learned from these unscientific facts. That is: always believe in and trust reasonable physical observations and empirical results over illogical theoretical expectations, unobserved theoretical phenomena, and over mathematical theories, equations and computations.
The real reason why there was no change in the velocity of light in any direction of the Earth’s motion through space is because the light rays propagating in Michelson’s and Kennedy’s experiments always propagated through the same medium: clear air. It is well known from the Index of Refraction that light always propagates through clear air at sea level at almost velocity c (only 0.0003 less fast). This is also the real reason why light was always detected to be c in every light experiment conducted in any inertial frame of reference on Earth, or in space.
The next real reason for Michelson’s null results is physical and empirical. Let us postulate that the finite physical distance between two relatively stationary physical points (A and B) does not change just because such two points move in-tandem through space in any particular direction. Such finite distance between A and B always retains the same finite magnitude101 (Picture 1). The positive empirical results of Michelson’s and Kennedy’s experiments described this postulate, because no fringe shift was ever detected during either experiment.
In addition, let us also postulate that a light ray can only propagate at the constant velocity of c over any finite physical distance through the vacuum of space (or air), and that the velocity of such light ray at c does not change just because it propagates through the vacuum of space (or air) in any particular direction102 (Picture 1). The positive empirical results of Michelson’s and Kennedy’s experiments also described this postulate, because no fringe shift was ever detected during either experiment.
Picture 1: Light Measured At Velocity c To And From On Two Different Reference Frames
The fundamental reason for the last above postulate is because the medium (i.e. the vacuum or the air) through which the light ray is transmitting in Picture 1, is the primary determining factor for the velocity of the propagating light ray, and the medium never changed in either experiment. Light always transmits through a vacuum at the constant velocity of c (300,000 km/s, the fastest speed that nature allows), because there are no particles of matter in a perfect vacuum to slow light down or change its direction of transmission.
The velocity of the vehicle in which the light experiment is traveling has nothing to do with the velocity of the light ray within the vehicle. For example, if one of the vehicles in Picture 1 was filled with water the light ray would propagate much slower in that vehicle (about 225,000 km/s). The confirmation of these facts is the empirical index of refraction where light propagates at different velocities through different media.
Because of these above described postulates, there can never be an increasing physical distance or a greater time interval for light to propagate between two relatively stationary physical points (A and B), regardless of their in-tandem motion through the vacuum of empty space in any direction. Therefore, these postulates demonstrate the empirical validity of Michelson’s and Kennedy’s results. There never was a greater time interval for light to propagate within Michelson’s or Kennedy’s apparatus in any direction. These results have been demonstrated many times in many different reference frames.
Another real, physical and empirical reason for Michelson’s so-called null results, which apparently has been completely overlooked by everyone, was that M & M were actually only attempting to measure (or compare) one slightly out-of-phase light wave relative to another slightly out-of-phase light wave (Picture 2). Such out-of-phase light waves created an interference fringe when Michelson slightly changed the distance of one mirror by fine tuning its micrometer screw. M & M then assumed that the solar orbital motion of the Earth would change the distance/time interval which one light wave would have to propagate away from the ether. But, to paraphrase Feynman, one can only assume that which one can measure, and one can only measure that which one can see. One cannot measure unobserved or undetectable phenomena.
Picture 2: Out Of Phase Light Waves Can Create An Interference Fringe, And Relative Motion Within The Light Paths Of The Experiment Can Create Fringe Shifts
Regardless of what M & M were assuming, and regardless of the direction that their apparatus might be pointing in, if the finite physical distance of each arm of his apparatus always remained the same, there could never physically be an interference fringe shift: that is, a change of the relative phase positions of such out-of-phase light waves. Stated somewhat differently: As long as the physical length of each arm did not change (whatever its magnitude of distance might be), the relative phase position of each out-of-phase light wave would physically have to remain the same. This was the empirical result of the 1932 Kennedy-Thorndike experiment where one arm was intentionally constructed much shorter in length than the other arm (Picture 3). Therefore, the specific finite length of each arm and the specific finite distance that each light ray propagated in any direction were always irrelevant to the occurrence of a fringe shift.
Picture 3: The 1932 Kennedy-Thorndike Experiment
For all of the above real, physical and empirical reasons, a fringe shift could never physically occur when Michelson or Kennedy pointed the arms of his apparatus in different directions over a period of several months. Michelson’s and Kennedy’s attempts to detect an interference fringe shift, or a difference in time intervals for light propagation in any direction, were always a mission impossible. In order to visualize what actually happened in Michelson’s experiments, refer to Picture 4.
Picture 4: Two Perpendicular Light Pencils Propagating Within Michelson’s Apparatus At 4 Different Times, In The Absence Of Stationary Ether
The next real reasons for Michelson’s null results are technical. We have already described one of these technical reasons. If the arms of Michelson’s and Kennedy’s experiments always remained the same finite length, then a fringe shift (a change in the relative phase position of two slightly out-of-phase light waves) never could have physically occurred (Pictures 3 and 5). The only way that a fringe shift could have occurred would be if Michelson or Kennedy would have slightly adjusted the distance of the focusing mirror with the micrometer screw in order to obtain a fringe (Picture 6). But since both scientists already had obtained an interference fringe, there was no reason for them to obtain another one. And they never did.
Picture 5: Michelson’s Interference of Light Experiments
Picture 6: What Happened When Michelson Adjusted The Distance Of One Mirror In The Path Of One Light Pencil?
A second technical reason was because M & M’s apparatus was located in the concrete basement of a building (with no windows) so that its sensitive instruments would not be affected by traffic, heat, sunlight, etc. If M & M had desired to visually detect the motion of the Earth’s solar orbital motion, or any other relative motion of the Earth, they could have mounted a 10-inch telescope on the roof of the building and observed the light paths of a passing luminous planet (i.e. Venus) or a luminous planet that the Earth was passing (i.e. Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn) through the lens of the telescope and calculated the solar orbital motion of the Earth over a period of months.
However, the solar orbital motion of the Earth could never be detected by the interference method employed by M & M or Kennedy & Thorndike from the basement of a building, because (unlike the telescope) there never was any material body which moved within the light paths of their interference experiment, which technically could be detected by any method. The only motion which occurred within the light paths of their experiments was when the focusing mirror was adjusted by the micrometer screw to create an interference fringe. For this simple technical reason, none of these scientists could ever detect anything else, and none of them ever did.
Source: The Michelson-Morley paradox solved (You can also read the whole treatise there)
