What speed does gravity's effect travel?

Question

If an object with mass "appeared" in space at a given distance, how long would it take to feel the gravitational effects of the object?

Answer 1

The force of gravity moves at the speed of light. The reason for this is that gravitational waves are a product of electromagnetic energy. The concept relating to a gravitational field is c2 = E/m. You can see that if either the energy or mass change, the c2 value changes also.

What this means is, that were a very large object to suddenly appear in space near us, the intensity of its gravitational field could not be known. If the heat energy within the object were to be known, then the size of the field would be, closely, known.

Answer 2

The gravitational force between two objects is the gravitational constant times the product of the two masses divided by the radius between the two objects squared.

THEREFORE, according to this theory, you will ALWAYS feel a gravitational force. This theory doesn't depend on time. It only depends on distance and the mass of the two objects. Plug in example numbers and you will see exactly what I mean.
The larger the radius, the smaller the Force...
Or the smaller the mass, the smaller the force.
Or smaller the radius the larger the force.. etc..

I found a site with the gravitational force constant, so you can get an exact value.

Answer 3

At the speed of light. If a large new planet were to suddenly appear 10 light seconds away, we would not feel any force due to its gravity until 10 seconds after its appearance. It is this fact that makes gravity waves possible. At least that is the theory.

Answer 4

Instantanius. No speed involved. Dont try to conclude gravity travels faster than light. But the effect of gravity is proportional to 1/ d square where d is disatnce between the objects

Answer 5

i have heard each and each and every fringe of this tale. If the sunlight were immediately got rid of (regardless of clarification a fiction author can arise with right here, must be large), it ought to take 8 minutes for us to "see" the end results of it being lengthy gone. The question if the sunlight is lengthy gone at say, 12:00, ought to our gravitational interaction with the sunlight be immediately severed on the point in time the position it disappeared... i.e. ought to we nevertheless see it in the course of the 8 minutes that we floated off into the vast cosmos? Gravity and time do have an interaction, yet i do not continually totally understand it. many of the hot study i have regarded at i have not executed so intimately, yet information signifies that for the time of a vacuum, the end results of gravity also go back and forth on the speed of light. So, even as the sunlight hours sky went black, our revolution round a mass that no longer existed must be synchronous. edit To the question ASKER: i'm curious as to what this contradictory reaction you acquire became. purely me being my common nosey self! even although Phillip J's answer contradicts mine, that's depending in truth and good judgment. (Thumbs up) curiously this can be considered a spread of questions that hasn't change into "knowable" yet. i must be fairly drawn to absolutely everyone that can propose a thanks to attempt this question.

Answer 6

Gravity's speed is the same as the speed of light. So suppose the sun suddenly vanished into thin air right now, it would take us earthlings 8 minutes to observe the effects. (it takes lighte 8 minutes to get here from the sun)

Answer 7

The force of gravity isn't a speed; it's an acceleration. It's different for every planet, but on Earth it's equal to approximately 32 feet per second per second.

Answer 8

According to the General theory of Relativity, gravity is transmitted by gravitons. They have not yet been observed. Gravity travels at their speed.

Answer 9

Gravity is believed to propegate at the speed of light.

Answer 10

speed of light. so in effectgravity is also like an electrmagnetic wave. so according to wave particle duality, gravitons must exist