How Fast Is Gravity?

[Balpin 12]

It hasn't yet been conclusively disproved, but nobody (in the scientific community) is in any doubt that it will be.

 

The LHC's results weren't published in a belief that they overturned the speed-of-light absolute limit, but in the hope that someone would find the error in them. The people who published them are quite confident there is an error, they just couldn't find it themselves.

 

When has the human race allowed itself to be stymied?

If we cant go faster than light, then lets find another method.

Theoretical mean, are like economists, they drain the life blood from everything.

I think Carl Sagan said about astronermers, something like this.

'When they take their heads from the stars, and bend them to their desks, they are finished'

[TaxiBaz 10]

I don't think they have. However, when Jabberwocky refers to the "speed of gravity" he doesn't mean the acceleration that it will cause in an object; he wants to know how long it takes for the existence of planet A to affect the motion of planet B, assuming that planet A just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

 

 

If you remember that the formula for spring extension is called "Hooke's Law," named after Robert Hooke, you might interested to know that Robert Hooke tried to steal credit for the laws of gravity discovered by Isaac Newton. He was a notorious credit-grabber in his day.

 

Was he a Tory

Glad to know someone else remembers Hooke's Law.

[Deltic 10]

Isn't the speed of light inn question now haven't they done some experiments with the LHC ??? or has this been disproved/rubbished

 

It hasn't yet been conclusively disproved, but nobody (in the scientific community) is in any doubt that it will be.

 

The LHC's results weren't published in a belief that they overturned the speed-of-light absolute limit, but in the hope that someone would find the error in them. The people who published them are quite confident there is an error, they just couldn't find it themselves.

 

Apparently they discovered a faulty connection to the gps unit which would account for the excess speed recorded [i didn't Google that. I read it on the Guardian science pages, honest!]

[HeadingNorth 11]

Was he a Tory

Glad to know someone else remembers Hooke's Law.

 

I'm not sure I would have remembered the equation. I'm more interested by the history of science than I am by the science itself, a lot of the time.

[HeadingNorth 11]

Apparently they discovered a faulty connection to the gps unit which would account for the excess speed recorded [i didn't Google that. I read it on the Guardian science pages, honest!]

 

It may have accounted for the excess speed, but they haven't yet confirmed that it did.

 

Probably nothing will be confirmed with absolute certainty until we get results from a different team in a different location; which won't be much before the end of this year.

[sined15712 10]

All I know about Gravity is that it hurts when I hit the ground.

And its Isaac's Fault he should have left well alone.:hihi:

[Deltic 10]

This was discovered by the Michelson/Morley experiment to which I referred earlier.

 

Einstein's contribution was to point out, by means of inescapable logical argument, that if the speed of light is indeed an absolute constant, then nothing can ever be accelerated up to or beyond it; it must also be a Universal, unbreakable speed limit. Ergo, anyone who wishes to argue that "Einstein was wrong" must offer an alternative explanation for the results given by Michelson and Morley.

 

Elegantly put sir. If recall correctly (cos I daren't Google it) the same experiment also disproved the existence of the aether, nice on Michelson , nice one Morley.

[Jabberwocky 46]

Elegantly put sir. If recall correctly (cos I daren't Google it) the same experiment also disproved the existence of the aether, nice on Michelson , nice one Morley.

 

He said the "G" word! Ban 'im!!!

[denlin 12]

Ok, sounds like a daft question but everything in the cosmos has a velocity, yes?

The speed of sound, light etc., but gravity...?

 

If a black hole was to pop into existence a million miles away from us, exactly how long would it take before we started to be sucked into it? I know its not likely to happen, but try to imagine...

 

And, they also say that everything in the cosmos that has gravity, has a slight effect on everything else, Saturn has a slight effect on Earth, the Earth has a slight effect on Uranus (snigger) and Uranus has a slight effect on the planet Cousbane thats in the small galaxy thats a little bit to the left of Mars.

 

If thats the case, then the Andromeda galaxy, which is 2.2 million light years away has an effect on our galaxy, we know this to be true because its going to hit us in a few billion years time, both galaxys will collide.

 

The gravity that we`re experiencing from that, then... is it the gravity from now?..Or from 2.2 million years ago...?

 

Anyone have any ideas? I know that this question would have been answered within minutes back in Ye gooooood olllllde dayyyyys of the forum, lets see if any of us have the capacity of the old uns!

 

I like galaxies but would rather have a milky way:hihi::hihi:

[Jabberwocky 46]

Excellent stuff here. I enjoyed reading this lot!

[Jabberwocky 46]

I just want to know what light travels through now.

 

I mean, they say that space is a vacuum and there has to be something to travel through, such as a gas or liquid, if theres nothing then what does it travel through... come to think of it... radio waves too.

[HeadingNorth 11]

I just want to know what light travels through now.

 

I mean, they say that space is a vacuum and there has to be something to travel through, such as a gas or liquid, if theres nothing then what does it travel through... come to think of it... radio waves too.

 

That's hard even for a qualified scientist to properly explain; we're getting into the realms of quantum.

 

To put it in very simplistic terms, electromagnetic radiation (light, heat, radio waves, X-rays and so on) are both waves and particles at the same time. Because they are particles, they can travel through the emptiness of space, unlike something which was only a wave and could only travel through some substance or other.

 

Don't ask me to explain how something can be a particle and not a particle at the same time. It turns out that, at the quantum level, the Universe is just plain weird. There are no such things as simple yes/no states; things both exist and don't exist, a bit of each at the same time; it's impossible to measure anything with total accuracy; and all sorts of other bizarre stuff. Not for nothing is it said that someone who thinks he understands quantum mechanics, hasn't learnt it properly.