Why Does Rotating the Michelson-Morley Apparatus Change the Time Delay?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the Michelson-Morley experiment and the observed time delay when the apparatus is rotated 90 degrees. Specifically, it highlights that the time delay becomes twice as long due to the change in the path length of light beams in relation to the Earth's motion through the aether. This phenomenon is explained in detail on page 449 of the referenced document, emphasizing the significance of the apparatus's orientation in measuring light speed variations.

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  • Basic knowledge of aether theory
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BareFootKing
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I am having difficulty understanding why when the apparatus in the figure on page 448 (http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~phys22/K%20and%20K%20Sections/KK_Chapter11.pdf ) is rotated 90 degrees the time delay is twice what it was before. When I think about I immediately think it would be the same since the two are merely switching the positions.


It discuses it on page 449. The last paragraph. I didn't understand the reason as to why.
 
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