Gravitational waves detected

[Milton Platt]

Looks like Einstein wasn't a moron after all:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ligo-gravitational-wave-1.3443697

OOOHHHHH......waves!!! get out the surfboards!!!!

 

[metis]

I thought they were a distortion of space.
Any links?

And they do that as well.

When taking physics in college, the professors I had tended to divide what we see in terms of energy and matter as if the two were somehow separate entities. And yet they also knew that, because of Relativity, that the two really aren't separate at all, and nuclear reactions demonstrate that connection. But still, old habits die hard.

We now know that "waves" are more than just "energy" (previous definition) but actually consist of "particles" that have mass to varying degrees. This is why photons travel as a "wave" but can be more pinpointed to become a "laser", and lasers can even cut through metal.

So, when Hawking and some others talk about gravitational waves alone possibly creating our universe, we have to remember that these are not just "energy" but also that which has substance and mass. What this recent confirmation does is to more open the door to better understanding the "afterglow" of the BB, but it also may lead to getting a grip on what dark energy/dark matter may be.

 

[Quetzal]

Awesome!

 

[Revoltingest]

And they do that as well.

When taking physics in college, the professors I had tended to divide what we see in terms of energy and matter as if the two were somehow separate entities. And yet they also knew that, because of Relativity, that the two really aren't separate at all, and nuclear reactions demonstrate that connection. But still, old habits die hard.

We now know that "waves" are more than just "energy" (previous definition) but actually consist of "particles" that have mass to varying degrees. This is why photons travel as a "wave" but can be more pinpointed to become a "laser", and lasers can even cut through metal.

So, when Hawking and some others talk about gravitational waves alone possibly creating our universe, we have to remember that these are not just "energy" but also that which has substance and mass. What this recent confirmation does is to more open the door to better understanding the "afterglow" of the BB, but it also may lead to getting a grip on what dark energy/dark matter may be.

Any links to Hawking claiming this?
Nothing personal....but your post is a little untechnical.

 

[metis]

Any links to Hawking claiming this?
Nothing personal....but your post is a little untechnical.

I did post three links that deal with this in general, plus an explanation post after that, so I really don't know what you're looking for. Either way, I don't have time as I'm logging out until at least Sunday.

Take care.

 

[Revoltingest]

I did post three links that deal with this in general, plus an explanation post after that, so I really don't know what you're looking for. Either way, I don't have time as I'm logging out until at least Sunday.
Take care.

The links didn't support the claim that electromagnetic waves started the universe.

 

[Milton Platt]

Big deal. The Quran has taught us about gravitational waves for centuries.

Yeah, well good luck with that one.

 

[Milton Platt]

And this also may lend some support for Hawking's hypothesis that our universe may have started from these electromagnetic waves.

Where can we find this hypothesis stated? Not saying there isn't one, but knowledge of theoretical physics isn't isn't one of my strong points.

 

[metis]

Where can we find this hypothesis stated? Not saying there isn't one, but knowledge of theoretical physics isn't isn't one of my strong points.

This is not quite what I was looking for, but at least it goes in the direction that I mentioned with Hawking's hypothesis:

We have made tremendous progress in cosmology in the last hundred years. The General Theory of Relativity and the discovery of the expansion of the universe shattered the old picture of an ever existing and ever lasting universe. Instead, general relativity predicted that the universe, and time itself, would begin in the big bang. It also predicted that time would come to an end in black holes. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background and observations of black holes support these conclusions. This is a profound change in our picture of the universe and of reality itself. Although the General Theory of Relativity predicted that the universe mst have come from a period of high curvature in the past, it could not predict how the universe would emerge from the big bang. Thus general relativity on its own cannot answer the central question in cosmology: Why is the universe the way it is? However, if general relativity is combined with quantum theory, it may be possible to predict how the universe would start. It would initially expand at an ever increasing rate.

During this so called inflationary period, the marriage of the two theories predicted that small fluctuations would develop and lead to the formation of galaxies, stars, and all the other structure in the universe. This is confirmed by observations of small non uniformities in the cosmic microwave background, with exactly the predicted properties. So it seems we are on our way to understanding the origin of the universe, though much more work will be needed. A new window on the very early universe will be opened when we can detect gravitational waves by accurately measuring the distances between space craft. Gravitational waves propagate freely to us from earliest times, unimpeded by any intervening material. By contrast, light is scattered many times by free electrons. The scattering goes on until the electrons freeze out, after 300,000 years. -- http://www.religiousforums.com/threads/gravitational-waves-detected.184559/page-2#post-4633667

Here's a brief article from Reuters: http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld...he-universe-gravity-did-says-stephen-hawking/