What does the beam splitter (half-silvered mirror) do to the incident light beam in the Michelson-Morley interferometer?

It reflects half of the light and transmits the other half.

In what orientation do the two beams travel after passing through the beam splitter in the Michelson-Morley experiment?

The two beams travel at right angles (perpendicular) to each other.

After leaving the beam splitter, where does each beam travel to in the Michelson-Morley interferometer?

Each beam travels to a plane mirror at the end of its arm.

What happens to each beam when it reaches the plane mirror in the interferometer?

The mirror reflects the beam back along the same path it travelled.

Where do the two beams meet after being reflected by the plane mirrors?

The returning beams meet at the beam splitter where they recombine.

AQA A-Level Physics 7408

Measurements and Their Errors

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Medical PhysicsOptional topic

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Turning Points in PhysicsOptional topic

Topic overview Cathode rays Thermionic emission of electrons Specific charge of the electron Principle of Millikan's determination of the electronic charge, e Newton's corpuscular theory of light Significance of Young's double slits experiment Electromagnetic waves The discovery of photoelectricity Wave–particle duality Electron microscopes The Michelson-Morley experiment Einstein's theory of special relativity Time dilation Length contraction Relativistic mass and energy

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Turning Points in Physics

The Michelson-Morley experiment

4 things to know
Paper 3, section B

Overview

The apparatus, what an ether would have produced, and what the null result meant.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Process

Where do the two beams travel after the beam splitter, and what happens at each mirror?

Key term

Where do the returning beams meet again, where do they then travel, and what do they produce?

Numbers

What was expected when the apparatus was rotated, what was actually observed, and what did the null result show?

Process

What did the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment imply about absolute motion?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What type of light beam does the source emit in a Michelson-Morley interferometer?
Model answer
A coherent beam of light.
2
What does the beam splitter (half-silvered mirror) do to the incident light beam in the Michelson-Morley interferometer?
Model answer
It reflects half of the light and transmits the other half.
3
In what orientation do the two beams travel after passing through the beam splitter in the Michelson-Morley experiment?
Model answer
The two beams travel at right angles (perpendicular) to each other.
4
After leaving the beam splitter, where does each beam travel to in the Michelson-Morley interferometer?
Model answer
Each beam travels to a plane mirror at the end of its arm.
5
What happens to each beam when it reaches the plane mirror in the interferometer?
Model answer
The mirror reflects the beam back along the same path it travelled.
6
Where do the two beams meet after being reflected by the plane mirrors?
Model answer
The returning beams meet at the beam splitter where they recombine.

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