The reference frame in which the speed of light is 3.00 x 108m/s was called the ether. suppose in june the earth travels straight into the ether with an orbital speed of 3.0 x 104m/s . according to classical mechanics, six months later in december the measured speed on earth of light from a distant star would be

Respuesta :

DeanR
I'll assume that says we're traveling at

[tex]v= 3 \times 10^4 \textrm{ meters / second}[/tex]

Speed of light in the ether frame

[tex]v= 3 \times 10^8 \textrm{ meters / second}[/tex]

Let's say initially we're travelling toward the light,so we expected to measure a speed of [tex]v+c.[/tex]

Six months later we're travelling away from the light, so we expected its speed to be [tex]v-c.[/tex]

That's [tex]v= 3 \times 10^8 \textrm{ m/s } - 3 \times 10^4 \textrm{ m/s} = 2.9997 \times 10^8 \textrm{ m/s}[/tex]