ROLE OF WAVEFRONT OF LIGHT IN RALEIGH AND BRACE TYPE EXPERIMENTS

Various experiments have been conducted to measure velocity of earth, to test length contraction and time dilation as stipulated by special theory of relativity. These experiments includes MMX, Kennedy- Thorndike experiment, Hammar experiment, Sagnac experiment and Raleigh and Brace experiment. All these experiments are based on wave nature of light. Wavefront of light plays very crucial role in these experiments. While interpreting the results of these experiments the behaviour of wavefront of light has not been considered resulting in to wrong conclusions. The result of these experiments can be explained by classical mechanics satisfactorily if behaviour of light wavefront is considered. The length contraction and time dilation like phenomenon’s are not required to explain these experiments. In the present article it is demonstrated how behaviour of wavefront of light effects the result of Raleigh and Brace experiment.