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If two objects can influence each other through gravity,

if one was say, a light year away from the other and it moved suddenly, how long would it take before the effect was felt on the other object?

Would it be faster or slower than light speed?

2006-11-19 08:16:50 · 5 answers · asked by Bill N 3 in Science & Mathematics Astronomy & Space

5 answers

This paper helps a lot:
In the simple Newtonian model, gravity propagates instantaneously: the force exerted by a massive object points directly toward that object's present position. For example, even though the Sun is 500 light seconds from the Earth, Newtonian gravity describes a force on Earth directed towards the Sun's position "now," not its position 500 seconds ago. Putting a "light travel delay" (technically called "retardation") into Newtonian gravity would make orbits unstable, leading to predictions that clearly contradict Solar System observations.

In general relativity, on the other hand, gravity propagates at the speed of light; that is, the motion of a massive object creates a distortion in the curvature of spacetime that moves outward at light speed. This might seem to contradict the Solar System observations described above, but remember that general relativity is conceptually very different from Newtonian gravity, so a direct comparison is not so simple. Strictly speaking, gravity is not a "force" in general relativity, and a description in terms of speed and direction can be tricky. For weak fields, though, one can describe the theory in a sort of Newtonian language. In that case, one finds that the "force" in GR is not quite central--it does not point directly towards the source of the gravitational field--and that it depends on velocity as well as position. The net result is that the effect of propagation delay is almost exactly cancelled, and general relativity very nearly reproduces the Newtonian result.
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http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/grav_speed.html

2006-11-19 20:27:20 · answer #1 · answered by Charles-CeeJay_UK_ USA/CheekyLad 7 · 0 0

The current evidence seems to indicate that gravity travels at the speed of light.

2006-11-19 08:47:16 · answer #2 · answered by beernutuk 3 · 1 0

No gravity travels at c. The force is carried by as yet undetected force carrier the graviton, which, like everything else in the universe can be considered to be a wave.

2006-11-19 09:13:00 · answer #3 · answered by Mark G 7 · 0 0

I believe they recently measured that gravity travels at the speed of light.

2006-11-20 14:12:35 · answer #4 · answered by Roman Soldier 5 · 0 0

Gravity waves are created while black holes collide EDIT: one in all Einstien's techniques is that products reason the area around them to twist. He concept that super products, like the sunlight, curve the area around them greater beneficial than small products do. products shifting with the aid of area persist with the curvature. while area is curved sharply adequate--love that's around the sunlight--planets, asteroids, and comets shifting alongside the curve are in orbit! If not for the curvature of area, they could all commute promptly into area, faraway from the sunlight. And it is what gravity is extremely approximately. If mass curves area, then very super hundreds shifting promptly with the aid of area could create ripples in area. for this reason Einstein predicted gravitational waves--like ripples on a cosmic pond. the biggest gravitational waves could be led to by utilising extensive activities--working example, 2 extensive stars orbiting one yet another, or a huge movie star orbiting a black hollow, or 2 black holes orbiting one yet another. EDIT: Black holes are not cosmic vacuum cleanser. they don't suck issues in. the sole way for an merchandise to be 'fed on' by utilising a black hollow is that if it passes for the time of the form horizon, additionally favourite simply by fact the 'ingredient to no return'. as quickly as an merchandise passes for the time of the EH, it may not talk with products outdoors the black hollow simply by vast gravitational container

2016-10-22 09:13:57 · answer #5 · answered by kreitzer 4 · 0 0

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