Anonymous
11/10/2025, 5:20:42 AM
No.16842511
>>16842481
it was a well know issue in physics at the time that maxwell's equations in free space yielded wave solutions with a constant velocity that depends only on the physical constants ep0 and mu0 which were determined by other experiments
the puzzle was what medium was waving and how motion of the observer relative to this medium factored into the mathematical description
most physicist at the time were coming up with increasingly implausible theories describing a medium with properties completely unlike any known medium. these were aether theories.
einstein had the insight that if the speed of light was constant for all observers, than something had to give with time and distance to keep speed constant.
>bonus question:
read about the train thought experiments/gedanken. anyone can follow them
https://aether.lbl.gov/www/classes/p139/exp/gedanken.html
it was a well know issue in physics at the time that maxwell's equations in free space yielded wave solutions with a constant velocity that depends only on the physical constants ep0 and mu0 which were determined by other experiments
the puzzle was what medium was waving and how motion of the observer relative to this medium factored into the mathematical description
most physicist at the time were coming up with increasingly implausible theories describing a medium with properties completely unlike any known medium. these were aether theories.
einstein had the insight that if the speed of light was constant for all observers, than something had to give with time and distance to keep speed constant.
>bonus question:
read about the train thought experiments/gedanken. anyone can follow them
https://aether.lbl.gov/www/classes/p139/exp/gedanken.html