why...

[AznMaverick]

...did people back in the day think that our universe was made up of ether? i think i read it in a philosophy book once, just wondering.

 

[aphex]

whats ether?

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: aphexII
whats ether?

the main ingredient in Heroin/meth production.

 

[RegaPlanet]

whats ether?

My favorite cutting agent

 

[Electric Amish]

They figured it had to be filled with something to transmit waves (sound, light), like water.

Just for clarification it's not Ether like the chemical Ether. It's Ether like in Ethereal.

amish

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: pyonir

Originally posted by: aphexII
whats ether?

the main ingredient in Heroin/meth production.

tasty.

 

[RegaPlanet]

haha pyonir ya beat me to it

 

[yakko]

Maybe because they didn't know any better.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: AznMaverick
...did people back in the day think that our universe was made up of ether? i think i read it in a philosophy book once, just wondering.

Probably the same reason we think it is composed of atoms and strong and weak forces. Because the smart guys say it is.

 

[Kadarin]

The general thinking at the time was that there must be some pervasive substance in the universe against which all speed or distance could be measured in absolute terms. The concept of relativity did not exist. Read old sci-fi (i.e. "Doc" Smith's classic Lensman series) and you'll see expressions like "blasting through the ether at hundreds of parsecs per hour".

Now the general thinking is that velocity is only meaningful when it's measured against some other object. In other words, "the spacecraft is moving at x miles per hour, relative to the Earth".

 

[gopunk]

ether, also spelled AETHER, also called LUMINIFEROUS ETHER, in physics, a theoretical, universal substance believed during the 19th century to act as the medium for transmission of electromagnetic waves (e.g., light and X-rays) much as sound waves are transmitted by elastic media such as air. The ether was assumed to be weightless, transparent, frictionless, undetectable chemically or physically, and literally permeating all matter and space. The theory met with increasing difficulties as the nature of light and the structure of matter became better understood; it was seriously weakened (1881) by the Michelson-Morley experiment (q.v.), which was designed specifically to detect the motion of the Earth through the ether and which showed that there was no such effect. (see also Index: Michelson-Morley experiment)

With the formulation of the special theory of relativity by Einstein in 1905 and its acceptance by scientists generally, the ether hypothesis was abandoned as being unnecessary in terms of Einstein's assumption that the speed of light, or any electromagnetic wave, is a universal constant. (see also Index: special relativity)




Copyright 1994-1999 Encyclopædia Britannica

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

The universe is made of cheese.

nik

 

[Jfur]

I think there was the idea of a heavenly (as opposed to earthly) realm -- think about how the stars and planets (before Galileo) were believed to be flawless and "heavenly". It wasn't until the Michaelson-Morley experiment that aether was essentially "disproved".

edit: I see gopunk has already referenced the Michaelson-Morley experiment