Speed of Gravity equal to speed of light

[Ichingcarpenter]

BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists revealed Wednesday that they have found evidence supporting the hypothesis that gravity travels at the speed of light based on data gleaned from observing Earth tides.

Scientists have been trying to measure the speed of gravity for years through experiments and observations, but few have found valid methods.

By conducting six observations of total and annular solar eclipses, as well as Earth tides, a team headed by Tang Keyun, a researcher with the Institute of Geology and Geophysics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), found that the Newtonian Earth tide formula includes a factor related to the propagation of gravity.


http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2012-12/27/c_132067538.htm



Open abstract and paper link

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11434-012-5603-3

[iemitsu]

1. Cool, I didn't know gravity went anywhere.

But when it does, it goes fast.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Gravity s working against me And gravity wants to bring me down

Oh twice as much ain't twice as good
And can't sustain like one half could
It's wanting more
That's gonna send me to my knees

Oh gravity, stay the hell away from me
And gravity has taken better men than me (now how can that be?)

Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is

[iemitsu]

5. Gravity is working its evil ways on me too,

pulling me ever closer toward the earth and my final resting place.

[unhappycamper]

21. I thought I recognized John Mayer.....

Gravity sucks.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Look up gravity wave. I anticipate there is a Gravity spectrum analogous to ElectroMagnetic spectrum

[caraher]

20. Sure, and gravitational wave detection schemes have frequency-dependent sensitivities

There's a lot of excitement about trying to detect gravitational waves using interferometric techniques as a new tool for astrophysics. Different astronomical events should have distinctive "signatures" in terms of the spectra of gravitational waves they produce.

[gcomeau]

2. Assuming they're correct...

...damn. There goes all the faster than light communication tech in the Honorverse.

[dballance]

4. You know, I'm sure there was a time when we thought it was impossible to exceed the speed of sound

The really creative and intelligent people will find a way to exceed our foolish thoughts of the limits on our world. I'd wager the Large Hadron Collider might just show us a few things we didn't expect.

[FiveGoodMen]

6. I don't believe there was ever a physical theory that said so.

There is obviously much that we don't know.

But not everything that someone imagines is right.

[Odin2005]

10. That is a myth.

A lot of people were concerned that sonic booms would damage the plane and injure the pilot, but nobody thought that it was physically impossible.

[dballance]

11. Okay, I'm wrong - Happy now that I admit it?

Thanks to everyone for pointing out my technical incorrectness rather than being open to something like a metaphor and a time where we learned things were not as we thought they were. The sonic booms didn't destroy the planes or pilots.

There were, if you recall, some scientists who were also afraid to detonate an atomic bomb because they were afraid it might cause a chain reaction to start that would destroy the world. Fortunately they were wrong. We'll have to detonate several atomic bombs and draw an enemy into doing the same to destroy the world. But I'm sure we're capable of making it happen.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. "The really creative and intelligent people will find a way to exceed our foolish thoughts..."

That's a blanket assertion that everything is possible and only fools think differently.

You pretty much HAD to expect a response to that.

[dballance]

13. I guess I'm just stupid

Even when I try not to be so bitter and jaded I get smacked down.

I only wanted to point out, as you do in your quote, that we're far more capable of things than many of us believe.

We once believed the Earth was flat, we once believed the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around us.

Well, it was a tough pill to swallow to admit we're not the center of the universe and we revolve around the sun. And given the number of stars and planets we see just in our galaxy it's tough to admit we're pretty minuscule in the great scheme of things.

I so hope I live to see us meeting beings from somewhere else. Although, if they're monitoring our world and politics I can see why they'd stay away.

[FiveGoodMen]

17. I didn't call you stupid

And I didn't intend anything I said to be any kind of "smack down".

I just engaged with the point you made.

Your position SEEMED to be that everything was doable and that naysayers are always wrong.

I was just taking issue with the notion that EVERYTHING people dream up will eventually happen, which may or may not have been your point (but that's how it sounded to me).

I did not mean it personally. I did not intend to start a fight, and as far as I'm concerned we're not having a fight.

You're certainly right that many things that once seemed unachievable are now common place and we definitely don't know what other barriers might fall as we continue to pound on them.

Friends?

[dballance]

19. Oh my friend

I love a good debate. It does not mean I dislike you. I welcome a challenge to my thoughts and I am fortunate to find it here on DU.

Have we not seen many things we thought were not doable become reality? It might seem in vain and perhaps it will turn out is was in vain.

But what's that famous quote that goes something like:


“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?”

I just want us to keep reaching for the things we believe might exceed our grasp and prove ourselves wrong.

[iemitsu]

16. It may be that exploding atomic weapons has started a chain

reaction that will destroy the earth. We will have to wait and see. The reaction is just not happening as quickly as some feared.

[rhett o rick]

7. Good grief. Gravity is only a theory. nm

[DavidDvorkin]

9. That's a strange thing to say.

[progressoid]

18. Fucking magnets.