Key Part of Classical Physics Testedby Michelson-Morley Experiment

• Addition of velocities - Applied to light

• Superposition principle of Galileo - Also contained in Newton’s law of inertia

• Leads to the formulas for addition of velocities:Example swimmer in river moving at speed v

v

vB

vs

vB (smimmer wrt bank) =  v (river wrt bank) + vs (swimmer wrt river)

Important point: s = speed of swimmer = magitude of vs (swimmer wrt river) depends only on the swimmer.

s does not change if swimmer is going up, down or across the stream

With respect to

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