What is a gravitron?

Question

curious

Scientifically speaking. (not the ride)

Sorry I meant graviton not gravitron...

Answer 1

Hi all

First - it is a "graviton", not a "gravitron". The "gravitron" is an amusement ride, the "graviton" is the hypothetical exchange boson for gravity.

Briefly:
The interactions of the other three fundamental forces (electromagnetism, weak and strong nuclear forces) can be described by the exchange of "carrier bosons". A boson is a type of particle with whole integer spin. Another name for exchange bosons is "field quantum" because each is the quantum of its associated field.

Examples:
* The electromagnetic field is quantised in the photon. Thus the photon is the exchange boson which mediates the electromagnetic force. Photons are also the quanta of electromagnetic radiation (eg light).
* The strong nuclear interaction is quantised in 8 different gluons. Thus the gluons are the exchange bosons which mediate the strong nuclear interaction.
* The weak nuclear interaction is quantised in 3 vector bosons called the W+, W- and Z particles. These vector bosons are the exchange bosons which mediate the weak nuclear interaction.

Other field quanta include:
* X boson is a GUT exchange boson
* Higgs boson is the quantum of the Higgs field which gives some particles mass

The reason that quantum physicists give each field a quantum is because it's easier to model particle-particle interactions than particle-field interactions, particularly since Richard Feynman came up with an elegant procedure for doing so (Feynman diagrams). So the quantum of each field above behaves like a particle when it interacts with other particles.

Because of the success with the three fundamental interactions above, and because of the value of Feynman's method, it's tempting to try to model gravity as a field with a quantum as well. The exchange boson or field quantum for gravity would be the graviton. It would behave much like a photon (ie have zero mass, infinite range) but would have spin 2 instead of spin 1. It would carry the gravitational interaction between massive bodies. the problem is that the rest of the formalism that works so well for the quantum field theories of electromagnetism and the strong and weak forces doesn't work for gravity. With gravity the maths is plagued by infinities because the graviton is itself a source term (and so can spawn infinite virtual gravitons).

Interestingly, however, graviton-like objects turn up in other theories. SUSY and symmetric strong theories (eg supergravity) also include a graviton, again a spin 2 massless boson. But these theories don't have evidentiary support yet. And the graviton itself is likely to be so weak that it will be almost impossible to ever detect one directly.


Hope this helps!
The Chicken

Answer 2

Is it possible that we haven't detected the graviton is because it is the substance of spacetime, much like a fish doesn't realize the water that it lives in? Since it was the first force to break away from the other 3, it would make sense that it formed the matrix of space with higher concentrations at the extreme limits of the universe, forming a shell like structure that would have a pulling effect, causing the expansion of the universe where the furthest object are moving the fastest because of their proximity to the outer shell. I imagine a graviton as a closed string, maybe linked like chain mail unfolding and twisting around massive objects. It is the weakest of all of the forces, but that may be because it is so diffuse. I find it hard to imagine dark energy as a repulsive force pushing galaxies apart but not matter itself, and acting on the ones that are furthest away more than the closer ones. Any thoughts?

Answer 3

it's the quantized carrier-particle of gravity.
It's existence has not been established... and It's not even obvious whether the theory which predicts it is correct. That said, the theory which predicts the graviton, quantum field theory, is a very good theory.

The argument goes kind of like this.
You know how they say that all particles are also waves?
Well, as it happens, all waves can also act kind of like particles.

Gravity, as described by Einstein's theory of General Relativity, CAN come in wave-form (they're called "gravity waves", and currently a great deal of money is being spent trying to measure them!). since waves can act like particles, we've named the particles "gravitons".

in addition, some people postulate that the gravitational force is transmitted by gravitons. The argument goes something like: if I throw a gravitron at you and hit you with it, you'll feel a gravitational force towards me.

Answer 4

The Gravitron is an amusement ride which involves fast rotations around an axis causing riders within the rotating frame to feel centrifugal force.

Answer 5

The "graviton" is the name given to the theoretical particle that transmits the gravitational force. There are four fundamental forces (electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and gravity) Science has determined that for a force to be effective it needs some way to move that force from place to place. For instance, light (electromagnetism) has a carrier particle known as the photon which carries light from place to place. Such carrier particles have been discovered for three of the four fundamental forces. So far, no such particle--the graviton--has been detected.

Answer 6

A crazy ride, usually at carnivals and fairs, that spins really fast and looks like a spaceship. You stand with your back against the wall inside and it spins fast enough that you stick to the wall. I think usually the padded things on the wall you stand against are able to roll upwards some so your feet end up off the ground.

It was kind of strange to me at first, but it's fun. A lot of them have cool party music playing in them. The one I was on had the "DJ" sitting in the center controlling it and the music. He was totally unaffected by it in the center, so crazy. lol

Answer 7

Theres two answers to that question (1) theres one you see at fair or sideshow where you stand up in it and they spin you around Intel you fill dizzy (2) the one they use at n.s.a to see how far can humans can go before they black out. Hope that's helped you

Answer 8

attracion toward the earth