单词 | luminiferous ether |
释义 | > as lemmasluminiferous ether a. Physics. An extremely rarefied and elastic substance formerly thought to permeate all space, including the interstices between the particles of ordinary matter, and (in later use) to be the medium by whose vibrations light and other electromagnetic radiation is propagated. Also more fully luminiferous ether. Now historical.Later views of the ether were that it provided an absolute frame of reference for the universe, with respect to which Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism or other field equations are valid, but that it possibly lacked any material properties. Following the negative result of the Michelson–Morley experiment (see Michelson–Morley n. 1) in 1887, and the proposal of the special theory of relativity by Einstein in 1905 (which assumed that there is no such frame of reference), the concept was gradually discarded. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > diffused matter > [noun] > ether ether1644 1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. xxxii. 281 The Ether..like an immense Ocean, tossed with all varieties of motion. 1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. vii. 31 These Phænomena are produced either by the intervention of air or Æther or other such medium, that communicates the Impulse from one Body to another. a1727 I. Newton Opticks (1730) iii. i. 326 Æther (like our Air) may contain Particles which endeavour to recede from one another. 1778 Dict. Arts & Sci. Æther, an imaginary fluid, supposed by several authors, both ancient and modern, to be the cause of gravity, heat, light, muscular motion, and, in a word, of every phænomenon in nature..Perrault represents it as 7200 times more rare than air; and Hook makes it more dense than gold itself. 1802 T. Young in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 92 14 A luminiferous Ether pervades the Universe, rare and elastic in a high degree. 1872 T. H. Huxley Lessons Elem. Physiol. (ed. 6) ix. 219 The vibrations of ether..constitute the physical basis of light. 1887 A. A. Michelson & E. W. Morley in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 34 341 It appears..reasonably certain that if there be any relative motion between the earth and the luminiferous ether, it must be small. 1910 Pop. Sci. Monthly Aug. 112 Einstein abandons the ether, which he declares to be the totally unnecessary conception. 1951 E. T. Whittaker Hist. Theories Aether & Electr. (ed. 2) I. p. v It seems absurd to retain the name ‘vacuum’ for an entity so rich in physical properties, and the historical word ‘aether’ may fitly be retained. 1995 C. Sagan Demon-haunted World xxiii. 391 Many physicists were deeply troubled by the demise of the ‘luminiferous’ aether. They had needed some mechanical model to make the whole notion of the propagation of light in a vacuum..understandable. 2008 Sci. News 19 July 2/3 The Higgs simply must exist. It's as sure a bet as the existence of ether was at the end of the 19th century. luminiferous ether Producing or transmitting light esp. in luminiferous ether (see ether n. 3). ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > [adjective] > producing light lucific1701 light-emitting1702 luminiferous1801 photogenous1806 photogenic1863 photogenetic1896 1801 Young in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 92 22 The actual velocity of the particles of the luminiferous ether. 1842 E. A. Parnell Elements Chem. Anal. (1845) 270 The principal luminiferous constituents of coal-gas are [etc.]. 1863 J. Tyndall Heat xi. 293 The luminiferous ether fills stellar space. 1866 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 1st Ser. 137 The luminiferous, the calorific, and the chemical rays. 1878 F. J. Bell & E. R. Lankester tr. C. Gegenbaur Elements Compar. Anat. 394 The paired luminiferous organ of these animals. < as lemmas |
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