It appears gravitational waves have been detected. From what I've heard, they have a 5 sigma signal which they should announce in about twenty minutes. (9:30 AM CST). Link to the NSF live stream of the gravitational wave announcement:
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Now we know that gravity is not constant. If gravity is correlated to mass, does that mean we've disproven conservation of mass? Or have we disproven that gravitational force is a function of mass?
quote:Force of Gravity (Fg) is defined as the force between two objects with masses M1 and M2, radius r, and gravitational constant G. Fg = (G*M1*M2) / r^2.quote:
Now we know that gravity is not constant. If gravity is correlated to mass, does that mean we've disproven conservation of mass? Or have we disproven that gravitational force is a function of mass?
I'm not too sure what you mean by this.
quote:I am not a physicist, but my understanding is that Newton's equation of gravity is a simplification of the one Einstein "discovered" during his work with relativity. Newton's equation holds for small masses (relative to something like a black hole) and slow velocities (relative to the speed of light).quote:Force of Gravity (Fg) is defined as the force between two objects with masses M1 and M2, radius r, and gravitational constant G. Fg = (G*M1*M2) / r^2.quote:
Now we know that gravity is not constant. If gravity is correlated to mass, does that mean we've disproven conservation of mass? Or have we disproven that gravitational force is a function of mass?
I'm not too sure what you mean by this.
The recent discovery shows that given two objects with masses M1 and M2 and radius r, Fg isn't always constant. We now know that force of gravity can radiate in waves, and so it is not constant between two objects at a constant radius. So the gravity formula doesn't work anymore.
So either mass can be created or destroyed (without being converted to energy), or the gravitational constant is no longer a constant and is now a variable that changes based on how the gravity waves are acting on the objects. (That's the easiest solution, but it might not be the right one) Or I guess our concept of distance no longer applies and a meter can no longer be defined as a constant quantity of length.
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Wouldnt the gravity just go back to being constant when the wave passes. Kinda like a wave on a pond no.
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Wouldnt the gravity just go back to being constant when the wave passes. Kinda like a wave on a pond no.
Yes
I think this changes very little. The oscillations of the black hole are the big discovery IMO
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Wouldnt the gravity just go back to being constant when the wave passes. Kinda like a wave on a pond no.
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Theoretically, shouldn't anything with mass/momentum produce gravity waves? Obviously we don't have the tools to detect anything less than 2 of the most massive things in the universe colliding with each other, but the idea of a "constant gravity" really just means that any fluctuations in gravity are small enough as to be imperceptible by us, right?
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Theoretically, shouldn't anything with mass/momentum produce gravity waves? Obviously we don't have the tools to detect anything less than 2 of the most massive things in the universe colliding with each other, but the idea of a "constant gravity" really just means that any fluctuations in gravity are small enough as to be imperceptible by us, right?