5 ms·

What are the practical applications of gravitational wave research? Or is it purely basic science for now?

throw0101a 5y ago
It's another type of telescope. In history we first observed waves in the visible spectrum, then perhaps infrared, radio, microwave, ultraviolet, X-ray, etc. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope#By_spectrum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope#By_spectrum This will allow measurements of another type of wave. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational-wave_astronomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational-wave_astronomy
Jabbles 5y ago
No one expects the science to be of practical value, but the development of the technology and engineering practices needed to perform the science may have many applications elsewhere.
- simonh 5y ago
  It has some merit sometimes, but I prefer not to rely on this justification. These are incidental benefits at the margins at best. My preferred argument is, if we can spend billions on trivialities like carbonated sugar water and computer games, as a civilisation we can afford basic science research. It’s not actually all that expensive in the grand scheme of things, and cutting science would not necessarily have any impact on funding for the alternative things (world peace, feeding the poor, etc) people who complain about such funding want. If they want to complain about waste they are picking a particularly poor target. A bit of a tangent, as the head comment wasn’t actually making this complaint.
Tbvdv 5y ago
It all leads to better porn. It's like Hertz discovering electromagnetic waves in air for the first time. Few years later Marconi was transmitting erotica in Morse code across the Ocean. So I suspect once we are able to amplify and redirect the waves at some specific point say a penis on Mars all kinds of possibilities open up.
- rantwasp 5y ago
  i don’t know what you’re on but I want some.
- sha256kira 5y ago
  Whoever you are you made my day, please post more comments on HN. For the good of humanity, for the children, for me.
- spyder 5y ago
  When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a thing you want to nail...
brnt 5y ago
I don't know of any field that necessitates better noise reduction than gravitational wave detection. Seems to me it has the potential to spin off tons of researchers/techniques able to handle noisy data.
gostsamo 5y ago
Better measuring macro effects of gravity might help us build better model of physics which can enable better quantum theory which can provide us with better technologies.
simonh 5y ago
The several already existing gravitational wave detectors have already detected signals believed to come from black hole-black hole, black hole-neutron star and neutron star-neutron star mergers. Using the time delta between detecting the same events at different detectors around the globe, we have inferred the directions the signals are coming from. The intensity curves of the events tell us details about the masses and other characteristics of the colliding object. Also over time the distribution of their masses and other characteristics will give us information about the populations and distribution of these objects, which can help validate our theories of star, neutron star, black hole and galaxy formation.
JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> What are the practical applications of gravitational wave research? Currently, not much. We’re Galileo grinding lenses at home. Theoretically? Everything from a whole new mode of active sensing, e.g. deep into the Earth and/or Sun, all the way to communications. Being able to directly measure gravity also lets us do new classes of experiments (not yet, but if we can measure more sensitively). We don’t know what we don’t know when it comes to gravity, so that’s another pot of potential. Less fantastically, these are immensely precise instruments. The manufacturing methods and know how will almost certainly translate to other domains.
sandworm101 5y ago
If and when ET goes whipping by earth, these things might detect it. Setting all the science and engineering breakthroughs aside, every scientist wants a warp drive detector network. Get them working well enough and we might be able to see the cosmic gravity wave background. That might let us see how/if the big bang actually happened, pre-inflation.
redis_mlc 5y ago
> What are the practical applications of gravitational wave research? Or is it purely basic science for now? - The world is not all about you. It seems like every HN thread on batteries, space or science turns into, "How will this entertain me?" - If there were practical applications, it wouldn't be research - The highest form of technology is measuring equipment. If you can't measure something, you can't build or improve it.

It's another type of telescope. In history we first observed waves in the visible spectrum, then perhaps infrared, radio, microwave, ultraviolet, X-ray, etc. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope#By_spectrum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope#By_spectrum This will allow measurements of another type of wave. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational-wave_astronomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational-wave_astronomy

Jabbles 5y ago

No one expects the science to be of practical value, but the development of the technology and engineering practices needed to perform the science may have many applications elsewhere.

simonh 5y ago
It has some merit sometimes, but I prefer not to rely on this justification. These are incidental benefits at the margins at best. My preferred argument is, if we can spend billions on trivialities like carbonated sugar water and computer games, as a civilisation we can afford basic science research. It’s not actually all that expensive in the grand scheme of things, and cutting science would not necessarily have any impact on funding for the alternative things (world peace, feeding the poor, etc) people who complain about such funding want. If they want to complain about waste they are picking a particularly poor target. A bit of a tangent, as the head comment wasn’t actually making this complaint.

Tbvdv 5y ago

It all leads to better porn. It's like Hertz discovering electromagnetic waves in air for the first time. Few years later Marconi was transmitting erotica in Morse code across the Ocean. So I suspect once we are able to amplify and redirect the waves at some specific point say a penis on Mars all kinds of possibilities open up.

rantwasp 5y ago
i don’t know what you’re on but I want some.
sha256kira 5y ago
Whoever you are you made my day, please post more comments on HN. For the good of humanity, for the children, for me.
spyder 5y ago
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a thing you want to nail...

brnt 5y ago

I don't know of any field that necessitates better noise reduction than gravitational wave detection. Seems to me it has the potential to spin off tons of researchers/techniques able to handle noisy data.

gostsamo 5y ago

Better measuring macro effects of gravity might help us build better model of physics which can enable better quantum theory which can provide us with better technologies.

simonh 5y ago

The several already existing gravitational wave detectors have already detected signals believed to come from black hole-black hole, black hole-neutron star and neutron star-neutron star mergers. Using the time delta between detecting the same events at different detectors around the globe, we have inferred the directions the signals are coming from. The intensity curves of the events tell us details about the masses and other characteristics of the colliding object. Also over time the distribution of their masses and other characteristics will give us information about the populations and distribution of these objects, which can help validate our theories of star, neutron star, black hole and galaxy formation.

JumpCrisscross 5y ago

> What are the practical applications of gravitational wave research? Currently, not much. We’re Galileo grinding lenses at home. Theoretically? Everything from a whole new mode of active sensing, e.g. deep into the Earth and/or Sun, all the way to communications. Being able to directly measure gravity also lets us do new classes of experiments (not yet, but if we can measure more sensitively). We don’t know what we don’t know when it comes to gravity, so that’s another pot of potential. Less fantastically, these are immensely precise instruments. The manufacturing methods and know how will almost certainly translate to other domains.

sandworm101 5y ago

If and when ET goes whipping by earth, these things might detect it. Setting all the science and engineering breakthroughs aside, every scientist wants a warp drive detector network. Get them working well enough and we might be able to see the cosmic gravity wave background. That might let us see how/if the big bang actually happened, pre-inflation.

redis_mlc 5y ago

> What are the practical applications of gravitational wave research? Or is it purely basic science for now? - The world is not all about you. It seems like every HN thread on batteries, space or science turns into, "How will this entertain me?" - If there were practical applications, it wouldn't be research - The highest form of technology is measuring equipment. If you can't measure something, you can't build or improve it.