if the sun stop producing light it would take around 8 minutes for us to realize, but if it somehow stop producing gravity would we feel it instantly?
2007-04-03 04:27:10 · 13 answers · asked by scauma 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Well accroding to Einsteins theory of relativity the sun produces a bend in space time. That is what we feel as gravitiy. If the sun stopped producing light yes it would take us 8 min to know it.(Reason being it takes light 8 min to travel from the sun to us).How would we know any sooner? Lets say that if something happened where the sun disaperad. It would take us 8 min to know it. According to Einstein the suns light and gravitional waves travel at the same speed. If the sun dissapered it would cause ripples to spread out threw space time and 8 min later we would know we were no longer in orbit.
2007-04-03 05:11:07 · answer #1 · answered by Lighting Bolt 7 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I see your point, but gravity is a force that acts constantly on us. So to say that it has a "speed" is not quite accurate. If the sun stopped producing gravity, I am not sure how we would perceive it, because the Earth's gravity acts on us individually in a much stronger way. We probably wouldn't realize it until it started to get really cold and by the time we figured out what was happening we would be dead. I would think that we would last longer than 8 minutes, so I would say that the loss of light would have a more immediate effect.
2007-04-03 04:35:43 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
You can't really compare the two. Gravity is thought to be a physical thing created as a result of the 'warp' in space-time. Think of a bowling ball sitting in the middle of a stretched out net. You sort of get a big dimple that if anything got near it, it would fall in. Light on the other hand is electro magnetic radiation that is actually traveling. So, gravity acts only if you are relatively close to the source (or the object is huge), where light is traveling energy.
2007-04-03 04:36:50 · answer #3 · answered by nyquist1995 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
OK
no its true that if sun disappears it will take 8 min to us to find out
but what your thinking is what newton thought that gravity acts instantly regardless of distance but that's wrong
gravity as the speed of light
ya it has same speed as of light
it does not act at instant
2007-04-03 04:35:03 · answer #4 · answered by MAHAL 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
% Likliehood of this happening = 0 %.
If the Sun lost its gravity all of the sudden, the Earth would fly away in a straight line instead of circling around the Sun due to the Sun's gravity. Earth's gravity would remain the same, but the Earth would grow colder and colder having lost its source of heating.
The Earth would continue to rotate around and around itself, so we would still have days and nights, but the days would get less warm, and the nights would get colder and colder.
What ever season we were in would turn into a Winter without end.
2007-04-03 04:48:13 · answer #5 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
They are the same,
coincidentally it's also reason for the difference between Einstonian and Newtonian physics. (Newton thought gravity was an instantaneous process.)
2007-04-03 04:43:01 · answer #6 · answered by RationalThinker 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to Einstien's relativity, both light and gravitational influence travel at the same speed.
2007-04-03 04:34:15 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
The speed of gravitation and light is same.It's very clear.
2007-04-03 05:27:42 · answer #8 · answered by ⇐DâV£ MaΧiMiÅnO⇒ 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sun doesn't produce gravity. Rotating bodies produce gravity. If the earth stopped rotating we would know instantly. If the sun and earth stopped orbiting each other, then our orbital path in the universe would be affected. That could be instantly noticeable not sure.
2007-04-03 04:34:40 · answer #9 · answered by bill t 2 · 0⤊ 8⤋
light
2007-04-03 04:54:03 · answer #10 · answered by Packman 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋