3 ms·

EDIT: I just realized you were talking about a hypothetical wave, and not the particular one here, so my comment below doesn't actually address your question :)

by gajomi 9y ago

EDIT: I just realized you were talking about a hypothetical wave, and not the particular one here, so my comment below doesn't actually address your question :) I am not an astrophysicist, but was also wondering the same thing. Gravitational waves move at the speed of light. Here is a graph showing the wavelength of gravitational waves from various sources http://www.tapir.caltech.edu/~teviet/Waves/gwave_spectrum.html http://www.tapir.caltech.edu/~teviet/Waves/gwave_spectrum.ht... The Ligo sensitivity range is about 10^6 meters. The speed of light is about 3*10^8 m/s. So peak to trough a few hundred per second. Much higher frequency than earthquake.

rcthompson 9y ago
So would you hear it as a 100 Hz tone? Feel it as a vibration in your bones? (Again, assuming an amplitude somewhere between perceptible and lethal, and assuming you're protected from other almost certainly lethal forms of radiation at that distance)
- badosu 9y ago
  It seems the wave is quickly dampened so I think if it would be strong enough (if you were near the source for instance) to have any impact on your body you would receive the tearing forces on your organs almost instantaneously and be damaged before you could even notice anything. Edit: A sibling comment has a physics exchange link to a proper answer
- nerfhammer 9y ago
  It's the same frequency that we hear when we turn the LIGO gravitational wave into a sound wave (frequency wouldn't change with distance, right?), so presumably maybe it would sound just like that? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyDcTbR-kEA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyDcTbR-kEA If you turn it up real loud and press your hand against your speaker maybe it would be some idea of what it would feel like.