The Michelson-Morley experiment was conducted in 1887 by Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley with the aim of detecting the presence of an "ether," which was a hypothetical medium thought to permeate space and serve as a medium for the propagation of light waves. The experiment involved splitting a beam of light and measuring the interference pattern produced when the two beams recombined.
The experiment was designed to be sensitive to the motion of Earth through the hypothetical ether. It was expected that the velocity of light in the direction of Earth's motion would be different from the velocity perpendicular to it due to the ether "wind." However, the results of the Michelson-Morley experiment showed no detectable difference in the speed of light along different directions, suggesting that there was no discernible ether wind.
The experiment itself was not flawed, but its results were unexpected and posed a challenge to the prevailing theories of the time. The null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment played a crucial role in the development of Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, which proposed that the speed of light is constant in all inertial reference frames and does not require a medium like the ether for its propagation.
In summary, the Michelson-Morley experiment was not flawed, but its outcomes challenged the concept of the ether and contributed to the development of the theory of special relativity.