Also why LIGO works but Michelson-Morley failed: you can use the ruler distortion as a signal, with some caveats.
replyIn LIGO, we detect the far away distortions propagating through our rulers and the differential effect of those waves.
But Michelson-Morley failed because the ruler distorted synchronously with the signal we tried to measure — since we mistakenly believed EM and matter were different fields.
How are general-relativistic effects relevant for the outcome of the Michelson-Morley experiment?
reply> How are general-relativistic effects relevant for the outcome of the Michelson-Morley experiment?
replyGeneral-relativistic effects are relevant for the outcome of the Michelson-Morley experiment in the sense that the general theory of relativity is a generalization of the special theory of relativity. :-)
Otherwise: the additional predictions that the general theory of relativity makes about gravity, curvature of space etc. are not relevant for the outcome of the Michelson-Morley experiment.
I mean, if you're claiming that general relativity is relevant here, then you need to show that quantitatively.
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