Two ways of detecting absolute motion

[avito009]

There are two ways by which absolute motion might be detected: by measuring motion with respect to a beam of light, and by making use of inertial effects that arise when an object is accelerated. So why MichelsonMorley experiment showed the first method to be unworkable? Einstein's special theory of relativity explained why.

Correct me if I am wrong. Special relativity proved that no matter the position or speed with which a person is moving, the speed of light will be the same. Is this correct? otherwise how does SR prove that the first method is unworkable?

 

[anorlunda]

Absolute motion relative to what? That's not a joke; all motion is relative.

 

[Nugatory]

Special relativity didn't prove that the speed of light is the same, it started with the assumption (Einstein's second postulate) that it was.

We choose to make this assumption because:
- It agrees with all the experimental evidence we have (including the Michelson-Morley experiment).
- It is consistent with the laws of electricity and magnetism, which were solidly established more than a half-century before the discovery of relativity.
- The conclusions that follow from that assumption can be tested, and when we test them they are confirmed.

That doesn't mean that it's right, but it does mean that any alternative that doesn't do all of the above has to be wrong.

 

[russ_watters]

There are two ways by which absolute motion might be detected: by measuring motion with respect to a beam of light, and by making use of inertial effects that arise when an object is accelerated.

You can't use acceleration detect absolute motion because per Newton's first and second Laws of Motion, acceleration works the same regardless of your current state of motion.

 

[cosmik debris]

There are two ways by which absolute motion might be detected: by measuring motion with respect to a beam of light, and by making use of inertial effects that arise when an object is accelerated. So why MichelsonMorley experiment showed the first method to be unworkable? Einstein's special theory of relativity explained why.

Correct me if I am wrong. Special relativity proved that no matter the position or speed with which a person is moving, the speed of light will be the same. Is this correct? otherwise how does SR prove that the first method is unworkable?

Since the speed of light is the same in any reference frame measuring your speed using it as a reference will always produce: ta-da, the speed of light.