Did Michelson and Morley think that the arms of their interferometer are rigid and absolutely stiff?

Question

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson-Morley_experiment
Did they fail to include the chemical and physical properties of matter, where the arms "adapt" their length to the properties of the direction, thus maybe causing zero-results that way?
Do the new-to-build gravitational-wave-detectors exclude such influences, causing zero-result answers in the future too?
(I am absolutely no "disbeliever" of Einstein's theories!)
I am aware, that to be able answer this question properly, it needs more than only a few years of university physics.

Of course each zero-result pleads for the unnecessary "aether", but then not necessarily the way it has been stated as results of the experiments. If the armlengths change as much as the distances which the light travels in each direction, the result is different, although the measurement shows the same as it did and always will do: The lengths are then different but cannot be measured by means of our measuring devices or even by light. Maybe the zero-result tells less than everyone is thinking.

I do not claim to make-up any theory. What I really am saying is, that M&M may not have been able to decide what they did with this experiment, because either way the results may have turned out to be zero, because they could only use "imperfect" matter for the arms, which are not absolute rigid and stiff.

Answer 1

Let's suppose that the Michelson-Morley apparatus, which was affixed to a huge slab of granite floating on a pool of mecury, actually contracted to cancel out any interference effects. What's more, by revolving this huge slab, this contraction is always in the direction of the travel through ether. Well, isn't that what the equations of special relativity predicts? Wasn't that the whole idea?

Answer 2

It is a little absurd. Then how do you explain the "adaptation"?
Isn't the simplest way the best? I mean the theory should come from somewhere where it makes some sort of sense. Your theory of adaption would end up meaning that speed of light is absolute anyways which is Relativity+aether. Which in other words means that there is something out there that we can absolutely not interact with...Sounds a lot like that other theory: God.
The rigidity of matter is enough to make an accurate device. If there was any aether with the speed of device going through it, it would have shown a good 0.4 fringe drift: that is accurate with all the cautions they took to eliminate vibrations. If you see a similar experience on a floating table and with laser, you will see that the fringe patterns are stable enough in far less vibration prone conditions to detect a change. If you say that matter is not that rigid to make a difference in the results, then that is a theory!
As far as I can see, you are suggesting that matter may not be rigid enough to detect a 0.4 drift in the interference pattern. That is a lot of change! It’s not a buzz in matter, it’s really significant in an interference pattern, it is something new to suggest that matter may not be rigid enough to negate a 0.4 drift in interference.