Re: The speed of Gravity
by Dave_Oblad on July 6th, 2018, 1:18 pm
Hi All,
The following is largely personal opinion, so take such with a grain of salt..lol.
I believe it is a mistake to group the wave propagation speed of a Gravity Wave with the speed of Gravity Collapse.
In the first case of a Gravity Wave, we are looking at the propagation of a Gravity Wave in the medium of Space-Time. It should be at the Light Speed (given my personal Model of Space-Time).
However, for Gravitational Collapse, we are talking about a density differential of a Gravitational Field or the Curvature in Space-Time (as more commonly used). As such, the structure of Space-Time is supported by the local surrounding structure of Space-Time. This means that if one could instantly remove.. say.. a Star like our Sun.. then the structure of Space-Time must relax (density decrease) as a function of its local area spread over distance.
This would mean that the instantaneous removal of our Sun would NOT result in releasing our Earth from its Solar Orbit 8 (plus) minutes later as per the propagation of Light Speed. What seems more probable is the relaxation of Space-Time Curvature spread over some Period of Time and not.. an instantaneous shift in Curvature. Or in other words.. the Earth would eventually break Solar orbit but it would be a gradual outwards spiral and not a sudden drop causing the Earth to shoot off in a straight line 8+ minutes after the Sun has been teleported elsewhere.
The Sun does NOT pull on the Earth. The Sun Warps Space-Time and that warping (Gravitational Density Gradient) causes the Earth to always be in an Acceleration Mode towards the Sun.. which also includes Clock Dilation on Matter that is subjected to said same Space-Time distortion. (Clocks run slower on the Sun then they would on the Earth)
This was a topic explored several years ago by myself and several Experts (I am not an expert..lol). It required a Model of a field of clocks surrounding a Black Hole and what would happen to the clocks should the Black Hole suddenly disappear. The answer demonstrated that the Gravitational Field Collapse cannot be propagated at the Speed of Light because it includes the element of Time (Temporal Adjustment) for one thing.
In other words: Given the Space-Time stress/tension created by a Star, the direction of Stress Dissipation must be from the outside in and not the inside out. A crude example is imagine a group of people crowded inside an enclosed area. Now instantly remove the enclosure. Notice the people near the center are the last to know the enclosure has been removed and they may now move further apart or dissipate (reduce density). As far as I know, this would seem true of all Gradient Density Effects which become suddenly unbounded. They dissipate outside-in as in released tension.
Anyway, the results of that discussion ended without a solid resolution. For the time being, Science holds that the speed of Gravitational Collapse is the same as Gravity Wave propagation (unless something has changed since that time). My objection was that they are two completely different things from a mechanical point of view (Stress Release in a Medium <vs> Wave Propagation in a Medium).
Best Regards,
Dave :^)