Troutona

Troutona, an armoured experimenter, studies a glowing charged plate hanging in a frame.

The Physics

If Earth moved through an ether, a charged capacitor hanging on a fine wire should feel a torque turning its plates to face the motion. In 1903 Frederick Trouton and H. R. Noble looked for it (Phil. Trans. A 202, 165, published 1904). They found none: the torque was zero.

torque = 0

• torque: turning effect on the suspended capacitor (N·m)

Like Michelson–Morley, the null result fits special relativity: there is no ether frame to detect.

Honest caveat: Explaining the zero properly needs relativistic treatment of the stresses holding the capacitor, a puzzle debated for decades. This is not Trouton's rule for boiling.

On the sticker

Troutona holds up a glowing cube hanging inside a suspended frame. Printed text: TROUTONA with the line TORQUE = 0. Pixel-art kiss-cut vinyl sticker, white, in 2″, 3″, 4″ and 6″ sizes.