format_quote Originally Posted by
Nur Student
The names may change, but the reality doesn't.,
But we haven't replaced the concept of the ether. The Michelson-Morley experiment showed that there is no substance like an aether in the vacuum of space (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michels...nt_experiments). There is no matter that exists in the same way as the aether was thought to exist.
Lorentz says that electromagnetic fields exist - yes, of course. We thought that the aether was how electromagnetism in the form of light travelled, but it's not so. Electromagnetic waves do not need a medium to propagate through, this was a mistaken belief in science that we have since overcome.
If you are saying that fields are something "material" then I think you are on very shaky ground.
Lorentz's theory that you quote from has long been superseded by quantum field theory and no longer holds true (if it ever did).
Also, the link you provide is to a different article on a different kind of ether - this is the aether that you mention:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminiferous_aether