Thomas Edison Question (Chapter 2)

[Jennifer K]

I am hoping somebody can put in simple terms what I am missing here.

SPEED OF LIGHT & SOUND: PAGE 56

As I was reading out the manuel about a scientist named Albert A Michelson, my daughter was jumping out of her seat saying don't you mean Albert Einstien...not knowing my science very well..we went to the computer to look it up. Of course this has left me more confused then ever. The first thing we watched was a speed of light video clip, through 360 streamline, it said Einstein in 1926 he was the first person to measure speed of light. Then I proceeded to look up info Michelson..it looks as though he did the experiment (Morley & Michelson) & Einstein applied the laws of relativity to get the speed of light??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Jennifer

[Charity White]

The article I found didn't mention Einstein at all!


During his career, Michelson touched on many departments of physics but, perhaps due to a special instinct which he appeared to possess, he excelled in optics. He performed early measurements of the velocity of light with amazing delicacy and in 1881 he invented his interferometer for the purpose of discovering the effect of the Earth's motion on the observed velocity. In cooperation with Professor E.W. Morley, and using the interferometer, it was shown that light travels at a constant speed in all inertial systems of reference. The instrument also enabled distances to be measured with greater accuracy by means of the length of light-waves. At the request of the International Committee of Weights and Measures, Michelson measured the standard metre in terms of wavelength of cadmium light.

[Tracey]

You can look him up on Wikipedia. There is an article about the speed of light there that might help you.