AN EXPERIMENT IN THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to test the special theory of relativity as opposed to the new source interpretation of the emission theory. The apparatus used consisted of an interferometer whose beams went through moving pieces of glass; the hypothesis being that if the velocity of light took on any of the velocity of the moving glass, then the interference fringes would shift; but if the speed of light were a constant, as the special theory of relativity predicts, no fringe shift would occur. (The pieces of glass were not thick enough to require consideration of the Fresnel dragging coefficient). It was concluded that the results of the experiment favor relativity.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1962
Accession Number
AD0296302

Entities

People

  • Gary C. Babcock

Organizations

  • Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Films
  • Interferometers
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Light Sources
  • Measurement
  • Observatories
  • Photographic Film
  • Photographic Materials
  • Photographs
  • Physics
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Relativity Theory
  • Special Relativity
  • Test Facilities

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Theoretical Analysis.