Does gravity travel at the speed of light?

BlodBath-VuP- said:
Gravity must travel, look up a little guy called Einstein.

As per the topic of the thread, this is actually hotly debated, which is why you're not finding answers. There are lots of theories but nobody has yet found conclusively how fast gravity travels.
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True, no one has found a conclusive answer, but my understanding was that current research leans toward the answer of the speed of light.
 
TheSpirit said:
Einstein propsed a theory, but the gravity isn't so much traveling as the effects of it are. It's merely a force.
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It is a force, but has properties of a wave. During massive stellar events (star exploding, etc) gravity waves are detectable. Those gravitation effects do not effect space instantaneously, but follow cause and effect. Meaning it takes time for those effects to spread throughout space.
 
}x{ EViL JiM said:
It is a force, but has properties of a wave. During massive stellar events (star exploding, etc) gravity waves are detectable. Those gravitation effects do not effect space instantaneously, but follow cause and effect. Meaning it takes time for those effects to spread throughout space.
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Can't argue with that.
 
It's actually very similar to how e/m waves work.

What appears to be a force is actually a deformation of the e/m field. Just like what appears to be a force is a deformation of the space-time continuum :eek:
 
Einstein's theory was that mass curved space/time and it was this curvature that produces gravity. It's not an actual thing but results from the nature of the universe. At least, that's my understanding. That being said, gravity would "travel" instantaneously across the universe since it's result of the universe itself.
 
JuSTCHiLLiN said:
Einstein's theory was that mass curved space/time and it was this curvature that produces gravity. It's not an actual thing but results from the nature of the universe. At least, that's my understanding. That being said, gravity would "travel" instantaneously across the universe since it's result of the universe itself.
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The theory of relativity EXPLICITLY lays out that NOTHING is instant. If anything were, the theory would be debunked and we could all ride orange cows to the moon in a quarter of a second.
 
JuSTCHiLLiN said:
That being said, gravity would "travel" instantaneously across the universe since it's result of the universe itself.
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Pebble in water doesn't disturb the outer edges of the water instantly.
 
hmm... what are your guy's majors...

I didn't go that far (only got to basic reletivity, covered in a week of class) in my pre-med/pre-arch physics class.

Makes me wanna take more physics...

?
 
JuSTCHiLLiN said:
Einstein's theory was that mass curved space/time and it was this curvature that produces gravity. It's not an actual thing but results from the nature of the universe. At least, that's my understanding. That being said, gravity would "travel" instantaneously across the universe since it's result of the universe itself.
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How could it not be an actual thing yet be an effect? Uh oh, someone forgot to take their brain medicine!

Just kidding, actually I think you've gone off a bit. Your explanation is more metaphysical than anything real. Everything is resultant from the nature of the universe, and everything in the universe obeys the same laws. And nothing exsists in the universe which can go faster than light or transmit data faster than light (if you will) because that violates causality (cause and effect) And that is the big no-no that everyone would like to violate but you really can't. So, most likey there will be no warp-drive. Sorry Scotty!
 
Baxandal said:
hmm... what are your guy's majors...

I didn't go that far (only got to basic reletivity, covered in a week of class) in my pre-med/pre-arch physics class.

Makes me wanna take more physics...

?
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Computer Science (dropped out)
now: Science Education: H.S. Physics.
 
Baxandal said:
hmm... what are your guy's majors...

I didn't go that far (only got to basic reletivity, covered in a week of class) in my pre-med/pre-arch physics class.

Makes me wanna take more physics...

?
Click to expand...

English... creative writing. Don't hurt me, please... too much.
 
Q: "In one section, you say that gravity has a finite propagation speed, which is the speed of light. However, gravity is caused by particles called gravitons, as you know, and these are massless. If they are massless, then they travel faster than light i.e. Tachyons, so which do you think they are? Massless or have mass?
thank you for your time"

Dave

UK



A: "Dave,
Yes, you are correct that the graviton is thought to be massless (we have never actually observed one, but we are pretty sure that they are there.) But this does not make it a 'tachyon.' There are other examples of massless particles, such as light itself (photons) which travel at the speed of light. In other words, just because something has no mass does not mean it will travel faster than light.

A tachyon (theoretically) would be a particle that travels faster than light. But no tachyons have ever been observed.

So I still hold that gravitons are massless and that they travel at the speed of light.
Thank you for your question."

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That was one of the first things that turned up when I googled 'graviton speed'. Gravitons are the theoretical particles which transmit gravity.

I seem to remember learning that gravity propagated instantaneously in highschool for some reason... I must be remembering wrong. A lot of physics phenomena like this are unknown to me... For instance, how photons travel at the speed of light (and are massless) but clearly transmit kinetic energy (in high school we had a mirrored paddlewheel hanging in a vacuum and shot a light at one side of it, and it spun... it's the same principle behind solar sails).
 
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