the thing is this:<br /><br />Light can be observed to act as a particle (photo-electric effect, specifically the minimal cut-off energy).<br /><br />Light can be observed to act as a wave (interference, diffraction, etc).<br /><br />As a particle, the speed of light should be dependent upon the velocity of the source (relative to the detector). This is not the case, and it isn't a matter of accuracy (we can measure the speed of light very accurately).<br /><br />As a wave the speed is dependent upon the medium transmitting the wave. Sound travels at ~700 mph w.r.t. the air it's traveling through. If the air is traveling at say, 30 mph w.r.t. the detector, the speed of sound will be measured anywhere from 730 to 670 mph (depending on the orientation of the sound in the moving air stream).<br /><br />So, physicists look for the medium in which light travels. We create a vacuum, we create electrically and magneticly shielded chambers (akin to making and E&M vacuum), all sorts of things, and light can still travel through it. So whatever medium it travels through, has to be super-permeable (meaning it gets everywhere, evenly, it's ubiquitous and we can't do much to mess with it).<br /><br />This medium, is the aether.<br /><br /> lets assum the medium isn't fixed relative to the earth's surface (i.e. it doesn't rotate with us, or travel with us about the sun)...which is reasonable, since it has to be even between the stars, why should it be locked into position by the presence of a random (albeit life bearing) planet?<br /><br />If so, that means that since the earth moves in a circle around the sun, and it rotates about it's axis, we move with respect to the aether. A sensitive enough device should be able to detect the shift in the speed of light as we rotate (first going with, then against the aether) and as we orbit (first one way, than another). The speed of light should oscillate in many ways, but specifically should have daily, and yearly components.<br /><br />We m <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>