-Ok kids, today we'll finish talking about the Michelson-Morley experiment! Please read the first part before that one or you won't understand shit! (unless you actually already know all that stuff in which case you should stop reading right now...)
"Ok... Please continue"
-Ok. Remember that we have 2 beams going in 2 different directions at 2 different speed. Both of them are gonna hit a mirror and get reflected again. Lets call the Half-silvered mirror in the center M1, the mirror on top M2 and the mirror to the far right M3. Both light should go at different speed because of the ether (like we said earlier). So when they return to M1, they will return at different time. This time difference between the 2 light beams that are colliding with each other will cause the production an interference pattern!
"Hmmm... What's an interference pattern?"
-Yo! It's easy! But Che doesn't have the time to explain all of this to you. So he will only show you what an interference pattern looks like:
Hope you got that!
"Hmmm...Not sure but ok!"
-Ok. Now, what if we turn the table 90 degree around so that the beam exchange roles? That is, the beam that was perpendicular now go in the same direction of the ether and the other beam now is perpendicular. What will happen is that a shift in the interference pattern will occur because this will result in a net time difference compared to previously. Che won't bore you with the equations that calculate this shift (he's already boring you enough!).
"Ok, so this whole thing was to check the shift in the interference pattern right? What next?"
-Well... They didn't observe any shift! (dum dum dum!) Why? Because what they thought was wrong! The ether they spoke of doesn't really exist. Einstein explains it all in his postulates of special relativity but that is a story for another time maybe!
Hope you learned something! Next time, Che will try to talk about something simpler!
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