2025 RationalWiki 'Oregon Plan' Fundraiser

There is no RationalWiki without you. We are a small non-profit with no staff—we are hundreds of volunteers who document pseudoscience and crankery around the world every day. We will never allow ads because we must remain independent. We cannot rely on big donors with corresponding big agendas. We are not the largest website around, but we believe we play an important role in defending truth and objectivity.

Fighting pseudoscience isn't free.
We are 100% user-supported! Help and donate $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can today with PayPal Logo.png!
Donations so far: $0Goal: $10000

Ether

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
ForkInRoad.svg This is a fork page which distinguishes between several uses of a title or phrase.
Please avoid linking to this page, and reroute any links to the most relevant article. Now fork off!

Ether might refer to:

  • Ether (chemistry): A functional group in organic chemistry, often used as a part anesthetic and often very volatile and flammible.
  • Luminiferous aether: Also known as the aether or ether. Originally theorised as the material that composed the universe. The existence of the luminiferous aether was disproved by the Michelson-Morley experiment in 1887.
  • Ether (classical element): Originating with Aristotle, aether was "quintessence" or "essence" and was a pure, fifth heavenly element which the gods breathed.
  • Aether (mythology): The personification (i.e., an "elemental god") of the upper sky, space and heaven. The aether of 19th century physics and the classical element is named after this god.
  • Ethereum, a type of cryptocurrency
  • Ethernet, a medium-access protocol sublayer named after the luminiferous aether.