Does the effect of gravitation move faster than light?

Question

According to the universal law of gravitation, every object exerts a force on every other object in the universe. So if I move my hand, will the effect of that be felt in Alpha Centuari immediatly, or in 4 years time? If yes, would it be theoretically possible to devise meganisms for sending messages that move faster than light?

three comments on the answers received so far.
(1) gravity does not move at 10m/s. That is the accelleration of an object by gravity at the earth's surface.
(2) This is a theoretical question, "neglegible" and "very weak" mean nothing.The universal law of gravity says the effect is there, and that is enough for me.
(3) Gravity is a force, not particle movement. I am not questioning whether particles can move faster than light.

I suppose another way to think of my question would be: If an event, that would have a noticable gravitational effect on earth happens anywhere, would we feel it before we see it?

Answer 1

The general theory of relativity predicts that gravity ripples outward at the speed of light. This is very hard to confirm experimentally, though some astronomers believe that they have measured the speed of gravity to be equal to the speed of light within a 1% margin of error.

I am not an astronomy expert, but I always thought that it would be an interesting experiment to test this out by running a computer simulation of the dynamics of a galaxy. A galaxy has lots of mass interacting gravitationally with itself, over a very large scale. You'd think that it might evolve into different shapes depending on whether one end of the galaxy was affecting the other side instantaneously, or only after a 100,000 year delay.

Sorry about the question-within-a-question, but if there any experts I'd be curious to hear their take on that idea.

Answer 2

Thank you...Smokey ( previous answer). Your answer--Theory of relativity was superb. Yes I posted point for that one! Next the "initial" question--has a gramatical problem. Does is incorrect in the question. Rather you should correct the question to read: DO insects fly faster on a moving vehicle. Now that grammar is corrected--we alas have come upon a second problem. How can an insect "fly" if it is attached "on" a moving vehicle. So the question is inaccurate. Continuing with the problem, we could substitute and make the question: Do insects fly faster IN a moving vehicle. In this the response would of course be a resounding NO. Because of course the insects would still "fly" at the same velocity, but would be inside a much faster bullet--therby creating a subuniverse with the same relative constants. So--in final answer No, insects do not fly faster in moving vehicles.

Answer 3

Gravity travels at the speed of light. In fact, all fundamental forces are carried at the speed of light. So if the Sun suddenly vanished, the Earth would continue in orbit for 8 minutes.

This is an axiom of general relativity, and the experimental evidence in support of the theory supports that it is accurate.

A result of special relativity is that no information in the universe can pass faster than the speed of light. It is the ultimate speed and the ultimate censor. It and the age of the universe determine how far into space we can see.

Answer 4

The gravitation of your mass is so negligible it wouldn't make much of a difference anywhere. If a black hole can keep light particles from escaping, and suck others in, then I would imagine gravity would be stronger than the speed of light.

Answer 5

Einstein's theory says warping of space-time is local.
Quantum gravity is non-local, which means instantaneous, in the sense that the measurement of the cosmic disturbance as a vertical deflection at
A spontaneously breaks the wave function of graviton so that a vertical deflection registers on the other side of the disturbance at B, so that both sides could semaphore one another instantaneously

Answer 6

first u should know that gravitational force is the weakest force in nature so it would not effect alpha centuri due to earth mass.

f=(G*m1*m2)/(r*r)


also from einstein theory no particle can vave speed more than light

from m=m0/{1-(v*v)/(c*c)}

so no device can be made out

Answer 7

no its 10m/s vs/ 330 odd summat million