I don't mean 9.8 metres squared--I mean, if you could somehow make an object appear out of NOTHING--how long would it take for it's gravity to affect the objects around it?
2007-01-04 17:40:23 · 10 answers · asked by kejjer 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
gravity is theorized to propagate at the speed of light
2007-01-08 17:35:28 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good Lord people, if you're not sure or are wrong, don't answer without saying so!
All forces, electro-magnetism, the weak force, the strong force and gravity propagate at the speed of light. Period. No faster, no slower. This is due to the force particles having a "rest mass" of zero. I might point out these are the only particles which can travel exactly at the speed of light.
As to the Earth-Sun question raised in the answers, we are affected by gravitons that left the vicinity of the sun a little over 8 minutes ago, so yes, we "circle" where the sun was then, not now. And yes, the moment the sun miraculously ceased to exist, we would not know, but rather would take that 8 minutes plus to find out at which time we would cease to be accelerated toward where it had been and therefore would continue mostly straight on out of the solar system with very minor bending of our path by the other bodies in the solar system. And that would cease to be noticeable fairly quickly.
And, if you could somehow make something appear out of nothing, it would affect things around it as soon as the gravitons emitted from it reached them.
2007-01-04 18:00:18 · answer #2 · answered by roynburton 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Gravitons are believed to be massless particles, and so must travel at the speed of light.
If gravity traveled any faster than light speed, then you could theoretically create faster than light communication by pushing a mass back and forth at one end, and reading the info with a sensitive gravity detector at the other. Not allowed.
Am wondering if the reference to graviton detection after a supernova was confused with neutrino detection, which would lag behind the initial flash since turns out the little rascals have a small rest mass after all.
Edit: Hey Roynburton, liked your answer except have to challenge your statement that all forces are propagated with light speed. Believe the force-carrying particles of the nuclear forces do not have zero rest mass.
2007-01-04 18:04:49 · answer #3 · answered by SAN 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Gravity propagates at the speed of light. General Theory of Relativity.
If the Sun suddenly disappeared, the Earth would continue to circle around the position where the sun used to be for another 8 minutes (or the time for "0" gravitational pull from the sun to get to Earth), before it begins to travel into space in a straight line.
2007-01-04 17:47:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Surprisingly, the answer is not obvious. General relativity predicts that gravity waves travel at the speed of light. Now, consider a gedankenexperiment: is the earth falling toward where the sun is right this instant, or where it was eight minutes ago? I am told that the former is correct; the latter supposition leads to instability. It is not obvious how to square this with a finite speed of gravity; it is even less obvious to me how to prove the matter one way or the other -- the mathematics is well beyond me.
2007-01-04 17:46:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
less than the speed of light. Gravity is a particle called the graviton. This has been observed by the explosions of super novae. The flash of light is observed, then gravitational effects are observed very shortly after. Since the graviton is slightly heavier than a photon, it moves slower than the speed of light. Number, i have no idea, they just discovered the graviton and i doubt they have all the physics down yet...
2007-01-04 17:46:40 · answer #6 · answered by Aaron H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
gravity is dependent on the size of the object the larger and more dense (i.e more partices) an object is the more gravity it has and gravity would kick in instantly because all solid matter has an electrical charge to it. oh and by the way its 9.8 meters/second squared for earth not just meters squared
2007-01-04 17:51:41 · answer #7 · answered by leeredbrickcity 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The General Theory of Relativity has answered that question: gravity propagates at the speed of light.
2007-01-04 17:44:27 · answer #8 · answered by gp4rts 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
In the context of your question, it affects it instantaneously, as gravity is an intrinsic property of matter that translates into the attractive force we observe. Therefore every particle of matter has some, however slight, gravitational attraction to every other particle.
2007-01-04 17:51:04 · answer #9 · answered by spacey_post 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i believe it is the same as the speed of light.
2007-01-04 17:47:06 · answer #10 · answered by Boba Fett 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋