Abstract
In the Fall of 1900, Frederick T. Trouton started work on an ingenious experiment in his laboratory at Trinity College in Dublin. The purpose of the experiment was to detect the earth’s presumed motion through the ether, the 19th-century medium thought to carry light waves and electric and magnetic fields. The experiment was unusual in that, unlike most of these so-called ether drift experiments, it was not an experiment in optics.1 Trouton tried to detect ether drift by charging and discharging a capacitor in a torsion pendulum at its resonance frequency, which he hoped would set the system oscillating. The basic idea behind the experiment came from George Francis FitzGerald, whose assistant Trouton was at the time. According to FitzGerald, a capacitor moving through the ether should experience an impulse, a jolt, upon being charged or discharged. Trouton’s torsion pendulum was designed to detect these jolts. Not surprisingly from a modern relativistic point of view, Trouton found no such effect. FitzGerald died in February 1901 before the experiment was concluded. It was thus left to others to try and reconcile Trouton’s result with then current electromagnetic theory.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abraham, Max. 1903. “Prinzipien der Dynamik des Elektrons.” Annalen der Physik 10:105–179.
Butler, J. W. 1968. “On the Trouton-Noble experiment.” American Journal of Physics 36:936–941.
Cornille, Patrick, Jean-Louis Naudin, and Alexandre Szames. 1998. Way Back to the Future: Why Did the Trouton-Noble Experiment Fail and How to Make it Succeed. Paper presented at the Sixth Conference on the Physical Interpretations of the Relativity Theory (PIRT), London, UK, September 11–14. Forthcoming
—. 1999. Stimulated Forces Demonstrated: Why the Trouton-Noble Experiment Failed and How to Make it Succeed. Paper presented at the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF), Albuquerque, NM, USA, January 31–February 4, 1999. Forthcoming.
Damerow, Peter, Gideon Freudenthal, Peter McLaughlin, and Jürgen Renn. 1992. Exploring the Limits of Preclassical Mechanics. New York: Springer.
Darrigol, Olivier. 1995. “Henri Poincaré’s Criticism of Fin de Siècle Electrodynamics.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 26:1–44.
Einstein, Albert. 1905a. “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper.” Annalen der Physik 17:891–921. Reprinted in facsimile as Doc. 23 in Stachel et al. 1989.
—. 1905b. “Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig?” Annalen der Physik 18:639–641. Reprinted in facsimile as Doc. 24 in Stachel et al. 1989.
—. 1906. “Das Prinzip von der Erhaltung der Schwerpunktsbewegung und die Trägheit der Energie.” Annalen der Physik 20:627–633. Reprinted in facsimile as Doc. 35 in Stachel et al. 1989.
—. 1919. “What is the Theory of Relativity?” The London Times, November 28, 1919. Reprinted in Albert Einstein. Ideas and Opinions. New York: Bonanza, 227–232.
—. 1949. “Remarks Concerning the Essays Brought Together in this Co-operative Volume.” Pp. 665–688 in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, ed. Paul Arthur Schilpp. Evanston, IL: Library of Living Philosophers.
Fermi, Enrico. 1922. “Über einen Widerspruch zwischen der elektrodynamischen und der relativistischen Theorie der elektromagnetischen Masse.” Physikalische Zeitschrift 23:340–344.
Fleming, Gordon. 1998. “Reeh-Schlieder meets Newton-Wigner.” Proceedings of the 1998 Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Kansas City, Missouri, October 22–25, 1998. Forthcoming.
Hayden, Howard C. 1994. “High Sensitivity Trouton-Noble Experiment.” Review of Scientific Instruments 65:788–792.
Jackson, John D. 1975. Classical Electrodynamics. 2nd edition, New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Janssen, Michel. 1995. A Comparison Between Lorentz’s Ether Theory and Special Relativity in the Light of the Experiments of Trouton and Noble. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Pittsburgh.
—. 1997. Reconsidering a Scientific Revolution: the Case of Einstein versus Lorentz. Unpub lished manuscript.
Janssen, Michel, and John Stachel. 1999. “The Optics and Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.” In Storia della scienza. Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, forthcoming.
Klein, Felix. 1918. “Über die Integralform der Erhaltungssätze und die Theorie der räumlich-geschlossenen Welt.” Königliche Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Nachrichten:394–423.
Larmor, Joseph. 1902. “Can Convection Through the Æther Be Detected Electrically? Note on the Foregoing Paper.” Pp. 566–569 in The Scientific Writings of the Late George Francis FitzGerald, ed. J. Larmor. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, & Co.; London: Longmans, Green, & Co.
Laub, Jakob. 1910. “Über die experimentellen Grundlagen des Relativitätsprinzips.” Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität und Elektronik 7:405–463.
Laue, Max. 1911a. “Zur Dynamik der Relativitätstheorie.” Annalen der Physik 35:524–542.
—. 1911b. “Ein Beispiel zur Dynamik der Relativitätstheorie.” Verhandlungen der Deutschen Phys ikalischen Gesellschaft 13:513–518.
Laue, Max von. 1949. “Inertia and Energy.” Pp. 501–533 in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, ed. Paul Arthur Schilpp. Evanston, IL: Library of Living Philosophers.
Lewis, Gilbert N., and Richard C. Tolman. 1909. “The Principle of Relativity, and Non-Newtonian Mechanics.” Philosophical Magazine 18:510–523.
Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon. 1895. Versuch einer Theorie der electrischen und optischen Erscheinungen in bewegten Körpern. Leiden: Brill.
—. 1904a. “Electromagnetische verschijnselen in een stelsel dat zich met willekeurige snelheid, kleiner dan die van het licht, beweegt.” Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam. Wisen Natuurkundige Afdeeling. Verslagen van de Gewone Vergaderingen 12 (1903–04):986–1009. Reprinted in translation as “Electromagnetic Phenomena in a System Moving with Any Velocity Smaller Than That of Light.” Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam. Section of Sciences. Proceedings 6 (1903–04):809–831.
—. 1904b. “Weiterbildung der Maxwellschen Theorie. Elektronentheorie.” Vol. 5, Physik, part 2, 145–280 in Encyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften, mit Einschluß ihrer Anwendungen, ed. Arnold Sommerfeld. Leipzig: Teubner, 1904–1922. Issued 16 June 1904.
—. 1915. The Theory of Electrons and Its Applications to the Phenomena of Light and Radiant Heat. A Course of Lectures Delivered in Columbia University, New York, in March and April 1906. 2d ed. Leipzig: Teubner.
—. 1922. Lessen over theoretische natuurkunde aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden gegeven. Vol. 6. Het relativiteitsbeginsel voor eenparige translaties (1910–1912). Adriaan D. Fokker, ed. Leiden: Brill. English translation: Lectures on Theoretical Physics. Vol. 3. London: Macmillan and Co, 1931. Page references are to this translation.
Lorentz, Hendrik A., Albert Einstein, and Hermann Minkowski. 1913. Das Relativitätsprinzip. Eine Sammlung von Abhandlungen. Leipzig: Teubner.
Lorentz, Hendrik A., Albert Einstein, Hermann Minkowski, and Hermann Weyl. 1922. Das Relativitätsprinzip. Eine Sammlung von Abhandlungen. 4th ed. Leipzig: Teubner. English translation: The Principle of Relativity. New York: Dover, 1952.
Miller, Arthur I. 1981. Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Emergence (1905) and Early Interpretation (1905–1911). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
—. 1986. Frontiers of Physics: 1900–1911. Boston: Birkhäuser.
Minkowski, Hermann. 1909. “Raum und Zeit.” Physikalische Zeitschrift 10:104–111. Reprinted in Lorentz et al. 1913, Lorentz et al, 1922.
Norton, John D. 1992. “Einstein, Nordström and the Early Demise of Scalar, Lorentz Covariant Theories of Gravitation.” Archive for the History of Exact Sciences 45:17–94.
Pauli, Wolfgang. 1921. “Relativitätstheorie.” Vol. 5, Physik, part 2, 539–775 in Encyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften, mit Einschluß ihrer Anwendungen, ed. Arnold Sommerfeld. Leipzig: Teubner, 1904–1922. Issued 15 November 1921. Reprinted in translation, with supplementary notes, as Theory of Relativity. G. Field, trans. London: Pergamon, 1958. Page references to this reprint.
Planck, Max. 1908. “Bemerkungen zum Prinzip der Aktion und Reaktion in der allgemeinen Dynamik.” Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. Verhandlungen 6:728–732.
Poincaré, Henri. 1900a. “Sur les rapports de la physique expérimentale et de la physique mathématique.” Vol. 1, 1–29 in Rapports presentés au Congrès international de Physique réuni à Paris en 1900. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.
—. 1900b. “La théorie de Lorentz et le principe de reaction.” Archives Néerlandaises des Sciences Exactes et Naturelles 2:252–278.
—. 1904. “L’état actuel et l’avenir de la physique mathématique.” Bulletin des Sciences Mathématiques 28:302–324. Reprinted in translation as Chs. 7–9 of Henri Poincaré, The Value of Science. New York: Dover, 1952. Page references to this reprint.
Rohrlich, Fritz. 1960. “Self-Energy and the Stability of the Classical Electron.” American Journal of Physics 28:639–643.
—. 1965. Classical Charged Particles: Foundations of Their Theory. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Schulmann, Robert, A. J. Kox, Michel Janssen, and József Illy, eds. 1998. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 8. The Berlin Years: Correspondence, 1914–1918. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Stachel, John, David C. Cassidy, Jürgen Renn, and Robert Schulmann, eds. 1989. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 2. The Swiss Years: Writings, 1900–1909. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Teukolsky, Saul A. 1996. “The Explanation of the Trouton-Noble Experiment Revisited.” American Journal of Physics 64:1104–1106.
Trouton, Frederick T. 1902. “The Results of an Electrical Experiment, Involving the Relative Motion of the Earth and Ether, Suggested by the Late Professor FitzGerald,” Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society 7:379–384. Reprinted in: J. Larmor, ed., The Scientific Writings of the Late George Francis FitzGerald. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, & Co.; London: Longmans, Green, & Co, 1902. Pp. 557–565. Page references are to this reprint.
Trouton, Frederick T., and Henry R. Noble. 1903. “The Mechanical Forces Acting On a Charged Electric Condenser Moving Through Space.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London 202:165–181.
Warwick, Andrew. 1995. “The Sturdy Protestants of Science: Larmor, Trouton, and the Earth’s Motion Through the Ether.” Pp. 300–343 in Scientific Practice. Theories and Stories of Doing Physics, ed. Jed Buchwald. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Whittaker, Edmund T. 1951–53. A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity. 2 Vols. London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd.
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Janssen, M. (2003). The Trouton Experiment, E = MC 2, and a Slice of Minkowski Space-Time. In: Renn, J., et al. Revisiting the Foundations of Relativistic Physics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0111-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0111-3_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-1285-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0111-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive