[3] Morey studied chemistry at the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in 1909 and was a member of the Geophysical Laboratory of Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., from 1912 until his retirement in 1953.
[4] He focused on experimental investigations of phase equilibria and thermodynamics of silicate melts with volatile components, such as water and carbon dioxide.
[4] In 1917, Morey co-authored a paper with C. N. Fenner on the development of pressure in magmas resulting from crystallization.
In 1925, he again co-authored another ground-breaking paper, this time with N. L. Bowen, on the melting relations of the soda-lime-silica glasses.
[4]Morey received in 1926 the Hillebrand Prize by the Chemical Society of Washington, in 1948 the first Arthur L. Day Medal, and in 1959 the Howard N. Potts Medal (for high refractive index, low dispersion optical glass).