Is there any experimental data that would indicate the speed of gravity? If so, what is the speed of gravity? If the sun was "turned off" would we lose our orbit and shoot off in a straight line? Could gravity waves keep us in orbit?
2007-07-07 15:11:02 · 15 answers · asked by ZORRO 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
This is a question I've seen around and am still amazed how people just go and affirm things without any care or regard for what is actually true, just because we 'believe' something it does not make it so, at least not in science.
There is compelling evidence that the speed of gravity is not measurable by our current technological capabilities, there is a consensus that there is a limit for it. There are several claims but none have been widely accepted. So far the estimates go from c(Speed of light) to 2*10^10 c. So do we know... No we don't. Most people base their answers in the Theory of Relativity; but it is not the Relativity FACT, it is theory people, THEORY.
For speed of light:
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/grav_speed.html
Against:
http://metaresearch.org/cosmology/speed_of_gravity.asp
Undecided:
http://wugrav.wustl.edu/people/CMW/SpeedofGravity.html
But maybe the new Einstein answered, if so I apologize.
2007-07-07 15:38:20 · answer #1 · answered by ΛLΞX Q 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Contrary to what most people have said here, there is no such thing as "speed of gravity". Gravity doesn't travel, it carries no mass, it doesn't move; it just is. Rather, gravity should be conceived as a consequence of large amounts of mass curving space-time.
For example, take a large blanket and stretch it from all corners so it becomes flat: this is space-time. Now, take a basketball and place it in the middle of the blanket. You see how the basketballs mass indents the blanket? Lets call this the Sun. Next, place a small tennis ball and roll it onto the blanket. Do you see how the tennis ball (Earth) follows the curvature that the mass of the basketball created? The tennis ball is only following the path of least resistance. We call this gravity. Read theory of relativity for detailed info.
Fortunately, no one can turn off the Sun except time. But let’s say we did turn it off (nuclear-fusion), the Sun would still be massive and bend space-time, manifesting gravity. Hmmm.. let’s say God removed the Sun, then yes, the Earth would move in the path of least resistance, which is a straight line.
In the future we might be able to invent machines that allow us to create vast quantities of condensed mass. This would be a simple way to produce our own gravity.
2007-07-07 15:50:59 · answer #2 · answered by FooFighter 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Though it may turn out to be equivalent to light, they are not directly tied together.
The following is still heretical, but makes far more sense than any other total concept of the universe I have yet found:
There is a second primary universe which overlays our own, and like ours, most of its activity is based in the solar systems & galaxies. The primary difference is that everything is traveling faster than light. That is to say, if the material on the other side of the dimensional boundary were to travel into our universe, then it would start at the speed of light, then deccelerate from there. The common label for this universe is the Imaginary Universe, while ours is the Real Universe.
In the center of our sun, and every other star, is a core of antimatter, which resides totally within the Imaginary Universe. These stars connect through their version of interstellar gravity, and since we do no experiments in this Imaginary Space, then time and the speed of gravity between stars have yet to be related.
There is another form of gravity, more literal to us, which is based upon our existence within a Solar System. Harmonics emanate from the Event Horizin which separates the Sun's antimatter core, and our universe. This effect travels outward from the Sun at the speed of light, with the resullts of our perceiving gravity as it knocks our particles around. Its frequency range is so high, the Harmonics are constantly settling our particles, and since this settling is extremely uniform, we see it as gravity, which holds the planets, etc. to the Sun at amazing distances.
Earth Gravity is straight Newtonain Universal Gravitation...get a few miles away, and you are weightless.
2007-07-07 16:06:31 · answer #3 · answered by science_joe_2000 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Mock Turtle answered one part of your question correctly, gravity waves, or in particle-physics/quantum-mechanics circles "gravitons" move at c.
According to Relativity:
A massive enough object will cause a warpage or curvature of space-time. Taking into account one of Newton's Laws from classical physics: Every object in motion will remain in that state of motion unless acted upon by some external force. The earth moves along in a perfectly straight line through space-time that has been curved by the Sun's gravity. So, if the Sun were to disappear in an instant, the space-time around it would "un-curve" or "un-warp" beginning at the point where the center of the Sun was and spreading outwards at c. We would continue to be in orbit until space-time flattened back out and would then go off into space.
Newton had believed that gravity acts instantaneously throughout the entire universe, but Einstein showed, and others' experiments later verified, that nothing can travel faster than c.
2007-07-07 15:36:00 · answer #4 · answered by quntmphys238 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
According the general relativity, gravitational waves would travel at the speed of light. Unfortunately, we have yet to see gravitational waves, so there is no experimental backing for this, although there are many other experiments verifying general relativity.
If the sun was 'turned off' but the mass was stll there, we would maintain the same orbit. If the mass suddenly disappeared, the gravitational effect wouldn't be felt at the earth for a bit more than 8 minutes.
2007-07-07 15:17:55 · answer #5 · answered by mathematician 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
According to theory, both the graviton and the photon have zero mass. They would then both have the same speed, c.
I'm not aware of any direct tests of the speed of travel of gravity.
If gravity were turned off, it would be like cutting a string on a ball going in a circle. But I haven't any idea of how one would do that, so the question about gravity waves doesn't make much sense to me.
2007-07-07 15:19:03 · answer #6 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The universe is increasing. And this technique is dashing up. some think of finally the enlargement of the universe will exceed the value of sunshine. So mild from distant galaxies would by no ability attain earth. So gravity ought to overtake the value of sunshine. The results of gravity on your asteroid would be on the spot. via fact the mass of the celebrity warps area time. the policies of the value of sunshine are no longer a similar via fact the fabric of area.
2016-09-29 07:05:52 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To the best of our knowledge, gravitational effects travel at the speed of light. A particle called the graviton has been proposed as the 'messenger' of these effects, but we have not yet observed gravitons.
2007-07-07 15:17:04 · answer #8 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The maximum pull of gravity is not expected to be greater than the speed of light.
This, however, is subject to PROOFS.
2007-07-07 17:12:40 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gravity does not have a "speed." It is not a form of energy, nor is it a kind of particle. There are no "gravitrons," nor "gravitational waves." All of these are parts of pseudoscience.
Gravity is a property of the space-time continuum, in the same way color is a property of paint or bark is a property of doggie.
Gravity does not travel as light does, nor is it transmitted as light is. It's just there.
2007-07-07 16:18:03 · answer #10 · answered by aviophage 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋