According to ancient and medieval science, aether is the material that

According to ancient and medieval science, aether is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. As early as the 1670s, Isaac Newton used the idea of aether to help match observations to strict mechanical rules of his physics. These ideas of aether would later influence Christiaan Huygens’ wave theory of light, in which light traveled in the form of longitudinal waves via an "omnipresent, perfectly elastic medium having zero density, called aether". At the time, it was thought that in order for light to travel through a vacuum, there must have been a medium filling the void through which it could propagate, as sound through air or ripples in a pool. Later, when it was proved that the nature of light wave is transverse instead of longitudinal, Huygens' theory was replaced by subsequent theories proposed by James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Einstein, and Louis-Victor de Broglie, who rejected the existence and necessity of aether to explain the various optical phenomena. These theories were supported by the results of the Michelson-Morley experiment in which evidence for the presence of aether was conclusively absent. The results of the experiment influenced many physicists of the time and contributed to the eventual development of Einstein's theory of special relativity. However, Einstein himself noted that his own model which replaced these theories could itself be thought of as an aether, as it implied that the empty space between objects had its own physical properties. Despite the early modern aether models being superseded by general relativity, occasionally some physicists have attempted to reintroduce the concept of aether in an attempt to address perceived deficiencies in current physical models.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to:

A. Refute the concept of aether as a medium necessary for light waves to travel.
B. Demonstrate that the ancient concept of aether is obsolete.
C. Discuss the history of a scientific phenomenon.
D. Detail the role of aether in the laws of physics.
E. Show that the theory of general relativity has replaced the concept of aether.


2. According to the passage, the wave theory of light was disproved because _____________.

A. Longitudinal waves cannot travel through a medium with zero density.
B. Aether was conclusively absent from the results of the Michelson-Morley experiment.
C. In order for light to travel through a vacuum, it requires some medium through which to propogate.
D. Einstein’s theory of special relativity disproved the presence of aether.
E. Light waves were proven not to be longitudinally oriented.