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Re: [Phys-L] More on Gravity Waves

Suppose two balls (Masses M and m) are suspended vertically at the same elevation.

Suppose this happens in a room without air, in a stable and rigid building, and that M>>m.

Suppose the ball M is pushed suddenly toward the ball m (along the line connecting the two centers of mass).

I predict that m will also be disturbed, practically at the same time and along the same direction.

Cavendish, who measured the gravitational constant G, would probably agree with my prediction.

1) What is wrong with saying that propagations of disturbances of this kind are examples of gravitational waves?

Yes, I know that the term "gravitational wave" is already used for something completely different, by people

who are much less ignorant than I am.

2) I agree with those who think that the unknown should first be explained in terms of what is already known.

Ludwik Kowalski, Professor emeritus,
Montclair State University

========================================

On Apr 25, 2016, at 11:51 AM, Donald Polvani wrote:

Sorry, misaddressed this message. Meant to send it off list.

-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@www.phys-l.org] On Behalf Of Donald
Polvani
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 11:41 AM
To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
Subject: [Phys-L] More on Gravity Waves

Bob,

Here is another link with a useful, understandable explanation of general
relativity, gravity, and gravitational waves. It appeared in a special
Astronomy magazine article after the January discovery of gravitational
waves. Some of the articles are a number of years old, but I found them
worth reading. The pdf file is 32 MB big so it's too large to send the
article as
an attachment. You can download the article from the link and print it
out
(which I did) if you prefer to read it at your leisure.

http://www.astronomy.com/-
/media/Files/PDF/Marketing/DIGASYPRM_GravWavesFIN.
pdf

Don
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