Also why LIGO works but Michelson-Morley failed: you can use the ruler distortion as a signal, with some caveats.
In 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.
In 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.