Gravitational waves

[SI]

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/gravitational-waves-einstein-s-ripples-spacetime-spotted-first-time

[b]

Astounding

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Einstein never thought they'd b detected but the technology was not available at the time for their discovery.

[b]

I found this video of Neil deGrasse Tyson giving some commentary on the new discovery.



Here is another video that describes the whole thing in an easy to understand way.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

One initial interest i find is that what is so extremely far away can have an effect on something here. Makes ya think what more effect a planet so much closer would have.

[b]

One initial interest i find is that what is so extremely far away can have an effect on something here. Makes ya think what more effect a planet so much closer would have.

I know even less about astrology than I do astrophysics but it seems to have a bad reputation in the science world. That is probably a subject that is new thread worthy. 

[Jitendra Hydonus]

If gravitational waves are distortions in time and space that are caused by the size of physical objects.....Correct me if im wrong. This being the case wouldnt those distortions in time and space effect us if we r drawn into the influence of such objects. It appears we r. because that is how we have found orbitting objects in our small solar system--- through the relationships of such objects and their pull on each other.

[b]

If gravitational waves are distortions in time and space that are caused by the size of physical objects.....Correct me if im wrong. This being the case wouldnt those distortions in time and space effect us if we r drawn into the influence of such objects. It appears we r. because that is how we have found orbotting objects in our small solar --- through the relationships of such objects and their pull on each other.

Yes, that sounds correct to me Steve. Mind you I am fairly ignorant on these topics. I assumed your comment was hinting at astrology. Sorry if that wasn't what you were intending. Either way, it might be interesting and informative to start another thread on astrology (maybe there are some already I haven't looked at).

Back to the gravitational waves. As far as I can tell, Einstein said that every object with mass creates these depressions in space-time - relative to the mass of that object. This is gravity and not the attracting force between objects that Isaac Newton apparently proposed. When two massive objects collide then ripples are sent through the fabric of space-time - that's where these gravitational waves come in. In most cases, these gravitational waves are supposed to be minuscule and perhaps undetectable (?). For example, if we bump into each other there is a gravitational wave but not a big one. But apparently in this case, the objects were so massive (two black holes) that their collision created a strong enough ripple that it could be detected with whatever instrument they had designed to detect this. They said that when the two black holes collided that, for a fraction of a second, there was released more energy than all the stars in the known universe combined. That is mind-boggling in itself. These black holes were also some 5 trillion light years away. Oh, and the collision happened 1.3 billion years ago. 

   

[Jitendra Hydonus]

http://m.timesofindia.com/gravitational-waves-all-you-need-to-know/listshow/50951596.cms

Imagine this mccoy all our lives we were told that there is gravitation but no one new what it was. This next generation has an explanation. How much more do we not know? i barely know anything. But at least i know that!

[Jitendra Hydonus]

The  part i am not getting is that in most of the illustrations given we see the objects 'fall' into the gravitational pull of larger objects. But is there really any up and down in space? Those are concepts associated with gravitation as we once knew it. Falling does not seem to fit in with a new definition of gravity.

[b]

Falling, up and down are relative to an object with mass. In our case the earth. An illustration they like to use is a trampoline. A heavier person than you will create a depression in the trampoline fabric which will pull you toward that person to some degree. Similarly, objects in space-time that have more mass pull in all the objects around it because it 'curves' space-time around itself. Except space-time is not a one-dimensional flat piece of fabric. Does that make sense?

[Jitendra Hydonus]

In the trampoline example the shaped mass is being pulled 'downward' but there is no downward in space. In this sense the illustration does not extrapolate. You could just as easily say the objects r being pulled upward.

It seems to me that the important thing about this discovery is that a physical basis for gravitation has been found. Even though we have kown the physical bases of its results. For instance in tides. What interests me just as much or more is the spiritual basis for physical phenomena. For instance; what is the spiritual cause of.cancer?

I would b interested to here what SI and mccoy and b have more to add to this.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Falling, up and down are relative to an object with mass. In our case the earth. An illustration they like to use is a trampoline. A heavier person than you will create a depression in the trampoline fabric which will pull you toward that person to some degree. Similarly, objects in space-time that have more mass pull in all the objects around it because it 'curves' space-time around itself. Except space-time is not a one-dimensional flat piece of fabric. Does that make sense?

I see what u r saying b. It would b difficult to illustrate with
one demensional tools.

[b]

My understanding of this stuff is very basic, if I understand it at all. I have been browsing around YouTube for explanations. They are all hard. 

[Jitendra Hydonus]

My understanding of this stuff is very basic, if I understand it at all. I have been browsing around YouTube for explanations. They are all hard. 

When i was a teenager a friend used to subscibe to the Christian Science Monitor i found i had a better understanding of many subjects by reading her copies when i visited.

http://m.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0211/Einstein-verified-Monumental-gravitational-waves-discovery-was-100-years-in-making