Question

The reference frame in which the speed of light is 3.00 x 108m/s was called the ether. suppose in june the earth travels straight into the ether with an orbital speed of 3.0 x 104m/s . according to classical mechanics, six months later in december the measured speed on earth of light from a distant star would be

Answer 1

I'll assume that says we're traveling at


`v= 3 * 10^4 \textrm{ meters / second}`

Speed of light in the ether frame


`v= 3 * 10^8 \textrm{ meters / second}`

Let's say initially we're travelling toward the light,so we expected to measure a speed of
`v+c.`

Six months later we're travelling away from the light, so we expected its speed to be
`v-c.`

That's
`v= 3 * 10^8 \textrm{ m/s } - 3 * 10^4 \textrm{ m/s} = 2.9997 * 10^8 \textrm{ m/s}`