3 ms·
Spacetime warps in the presence of mass, yes. But the full answer is that spacetime warps in the presence of energy/momentum; Einstein's field equations make n
by evanb 3y ago
Spacetime warps in the presence of mass, yes. But the full answer is that spacetime warps in the presence of energy/momentum; Einstein's field equations make no mention of mass specifically, except that via E=mc^2 masses are energy.
So, once you get a gravitational wave going (by shaking masses) the warping of spacetime itself at one place sources warping for a nearby place which sources warping for a nearby place which ... is what we call a gravitational wave.
- beders 3y agoThat would also mean Earth moving around the sun would create such waves?
- evanb 3y agoIndeed it does. But the Earth is so light and the orbit so long that the power emitted is very very low. The sun will explode long before the Earth's orbit will be noticeably modified due to energy loss by gravitational radiation. The distortion effects are not noticeable on experimental scales we have the technology to probe. The mechanism can noticeably modify orbits, however. In fact the first (indirect) observation of gravitational waves was using exactly that effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulse%E2%80%93Taylor_pulsar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulse%E2%80%93Taylor_pulsar