If we suppose that light is made of small elastic particles, does the classical Galilean relativity explain the Michelson-Morley experiment?
I would greatly appreciate any point of view.
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$\begingroup$ Light is a wave. It only exhibits particle properties when an individual wave is isolated and impacts and terminates on a measuring device. $\endgroup$– LambdaCommented Aug 5, 2020 at 15:12
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2 Answers
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Classical small elastic particles would not produce interference patterns. So they cannot explain any interferometer experiments, including the Michelson Morley experiment.
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$\begingroup$ how about having a lot of small elastic particles bouncing off each other? $\endgroup$– UmaxoCommented Aug 5, 2020 at 12:03
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$\begingroup$ That would produce scattering, not interference. You would see blur, not fringes. $\endgroup$– DaleCommented Aug 5, 2020 at 12:05
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$\begingroup$ sure, if the movement is chaotic. Perhaps the source or mirrors are making them "organized"? $\endgroup$– UmaxoCommented Aug 5, 2020 at 12:17
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2$\begingroup$ Sorry, I am not going to engage in the development of a whole new paradigm of classical particles and mirrors in comments here. You are on your own $\endgroup$– DaleCommented Aug 5, 2020 at 12:23
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It is possible to explain the result of the Michelson-Morley experiment with a Galilean "emission" or "ballistic" theory of light in which it still interferes as a wave, but its speed depends on the speed of the source. The problem was that this sort of model couldn't explain other data, such as the apparent orbits of Jupiter's moons (which would be distorted if the light from the moons reached us faster when they're moving toward us).
It was really a combination of several experiments that collectively ruled out everything except special relativity. The reason Michelson-Morley is famous is that it was the last of them. Everyone expected that it would find an aether wind because they'd already excluded everything else. When it didn't, they were at a loss.
