High sensitivity Trouton-Noble experiment
Abstract
The 1903 Trouton-Noble (TN) experiment, which sought a torque on a charged capacitor, is often regarded as the electrostatic equivalent of the Michelson-Morley experiment, inasmuch as it was supposed to have detected ether drift, and it yielded a null result. The present experiment was designed to be the electrostatic equivalent of the Michelson-Gale experiment, which was performed to detect the rotational velocity of the earth and which yielded a nonnull result. The present experiment is 105 times as sensitive as the original TN experiment, but yields a null result nonetheless. Although the TN experiment is often regarded as crucial, a footnote in the original paper reveals the conjectural nature of the theory.
- Publication:
-
Review of Scientific Instruments
- Pub Date:
- April 1994
- DOI:
- 10.1063/1.1144955
- Bibcode:
- 1994RScI...65..788H