5 ms·
One reason would be that gravitational wave amplitude decays only as 1/distance instead of electromagnetic radiation which decays as 1/(distance squared). ...B
by sleavey 8y ago
One reason would be that gravitational wave amplitude decays only as 1/distance instead of electromagnetic radiation which decays as 1/(distance squared).
...But man-made gravitational waves are, without some scientific advance eclipsing the discovery of electricity, completely beyond any human capability of being produced at the levels required for extra terrestrial communication.
- maxxxxx 8y agoThe amplitude decay certainly would be a very attractive feature for long distance applications. Maybe a gravity wave radar? Do they get reflected? Now we just need to mass produce black holes with the mass of the sun and bump them into each other :-)
- spacehome 8y agoThis is incorrect. Amplitude decays as 1/distance, but energy (and power) decays as 1/distance^2. This is the same as electromagnetic radiation.
- andrewflnr 8y ago> gravitational wave amplitude decays only as 1/distance Wait, what? How? The wavefront still spreads out over the quadratically increasing surface of a sphere, right, just like EM waves?
- ajkjk 8y agoI thought about objecting to that also. But the case of spiraling black holes is possibly dispersing energy only on the plane of rotation, so it might actually be 1/r?
- roywiggins 8y agoGravity follows the inverse-square law. Every conservative vector field does, actually, and gravity behaves like one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law#Gravitation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law#Gravitation