https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=1642%3A_Gravitational_Waves 2026-05-23T07:10:53Z Revision history for this page on the wiki MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=330930&oldid=prev 2023-12-16T04:09:53Z

<p>‎<span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Gravitational waves: </span> add info about ligo detecting human scale events</span></p> <table class="diff diff-contentalign-left" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr style="vertical-align: top;" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 04:09, 16 December 2023</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l29" >Line 29:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 29:</td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In layman terms, a gravitational wave is like moving a stone through water while partly submerged. It will cause waves on the surface of the water as it moves through it. These waves will spread away from the center of disturbance and as they move, they will cause the water molecules to oscillate around their mean positions. Similar waves are created in the space-time fabric when two celestial bodies interact with each other. If you concentrate on an area of the fabric far away from the point of disturbance, it can be observed that if the wave causes compression in one direction, it'll cause expansion of the fabric in the other. See [http://www.einstein-online.info/spotlights/gw_waves this page] for nice animations.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In layman terms, a gravitational wave is like moving a stone through water while partly submerged. It will cause waves on the surface of the water as it moves through it. These waves will spread away from the center of disturbance and as they move, they will cause the water molecules to oscillate around their mean positions. Similar waves are created in the space-time fabric when two celestial bodies interact with each other. If you concentrate on an area of the fabric far away from the point of disturbance, it can be observed that if the wave causes compression in one direction, it'll cause expansion of the fabric in the other. See [http://www.einstein-online.info/spotlights/gw_waves this page] for nice animations.</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Note that anything with a mass will cause a gravitational wave. Just as waves created by small stones are tiny in comparison to waves created by huge rocks in water, the waves from humans moving around will be tiny compared to the waves created by celestial bodies. Also, the bigger the body, the stronger the wave and the farther away it can be detected. That is why we can only detect gravity waves from heavy bodies like black holes or neutron stars but not from us moving around.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Note that anything with a mass will cause a gravitational wave. Just as waves created by small stones are tiny in comparison to waves created by huge rocks in water, the waves from humans moving around will be tiny compared to the waves created by celestial bodies. Also, the bigger the body, the stronger the wave and the farther away it can be detected. That is why we can only detect gravity waves from heavy bodies like black holes or neutron stars but not from <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9810016 </ins>us moving around<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">] further than around 10m from the test masses. (the LIGO Hanford observatory has also had problems with [https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0007050 tumbleweeds hitting the building] and had to build a fence)</ins>.</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Now, let's consider spacetime fabric as a thin rubber sheet. If you mark any two points on this sheet and stretch or compress it along the axis joining those two points, the relative positions of these points with respect to their neighboring points do not change, but the distance between them changes.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Now, let's consider spacetime fabric as a thin rubber sheet. If you mark any two points on this sheet and stretch or compress it along the axis joining those two points, the relative positions of these points with respect to their neighboring points do not change, but the distance between them changes.</div></td></tr> </table>

172.70.130.120 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=285328&oldid=prev 2022-06-01T19:12:54Z

<p>Reverted edits by <a href="/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Not_so_Kynde" title="Special:Contributions/Not so Kynde">Not so Kynde</a> (<a href="/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Not_so_Kynde&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="User talk:Not so Kynde (page does not exist)">talk</a>) to last revision by <a href="/wiki/index.php/User:Theusaf" title="User:Theusaf">Theusaf</a></p> <table class="diff diff-contentalign-left" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr style="vertical-align: top;" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 19:12, 1 June 2022</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l2" >Line 2:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 2:</td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| number&#160; &#160; = 1642</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| number&#160; &#160; = 1642</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| date&#160; &#160; &#160; = February 11, 2016</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| date&#160; &#160; &#160; = February 11, 2016</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| title&#160; &#160; = <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Gravita[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegianstional </del>Waves</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| title&#160; &#160; = <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Gravitational </ins>Waves</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| image&#160; &#160; = gravitational waves.png</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| image&#160; &#160; = gravitational waves.png</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| titletext = &quot;That last LinkedIn request set a new record for the most energetic physical event ever observed. Maybe we should respond.&quot; &quot;Nah.&quot;</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| titletext = &quot;That last LinkedIn request set a new record for the most energetic physical event ever observed. Maybe we should respond.&quot; &quot;Nah.&quot;</div></td></tr> </table>

Davidy22 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=285326&oldid=prev 2022-06-01T19:12:40Z

<p></p> <table class="diff diff-contentalign-left" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr style="vertical-align: top;" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 19:12, 1 June 2022</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l2" >Line 2:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 2:</td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| number&#160; &#160; = 1642</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| number&#160; &#160; = 1642</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| date&#160; &#160; &#160; = February 11, 2016</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| date&#160; &#160; &#160; = February 11, 2016</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| title&#160; &#160; = <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Gravitational </del>Waves</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| title&#160; &#160; = <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Gravita[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegians[[File:Flag of Norway.svg]]Wiki of norwegianstional </ins>Waves</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| image&#160; &#160; = gravitational waves.png</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| image&#160; &#160; = gravitational waves.png</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| titletext = &quot;That last LinkedIn request set a new record for the most energetic physical event ever observed. Maybe we should respond.&quot; &quot;Nah.&quot;</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>&#160;</td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| titletext = &quot;That last LinkedIn request set a new record for the most energetic physical event ever observed. Maybe we should respond.&quot; &quot;Nah.&quot;</div></td></tr> </table>

Not so Kynde https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=284017&oldid=prev 2022-05-26T20:02:05Z

<p>Reverted edits by <a href="/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Donald_Trump" title="Special:Contributions/Donald Trump">Donald Trump</a> (<a href="/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Donald_Trump&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="User talk:Donald Trump (page does not exist)">talk</a>) to last revision by <a href="/wiki/index.php/User:CRLF" title="User:CRLF">CRLF</a></p> <a href="//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&amp;diff=284017&amp;oldid=281269">Show changes</a>

Theusaf https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=281269&oldid=prev 2022-05-26T18:52:11Z

<p>Reverted edit by anti-crap user</p> <a href="//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&amp;diff=281269&amp;oldid=281039">Show changes</a>

Donald Trump https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=281039&oldid=prev 2022-05-26T18:05:17Z

<p>Reverted vandalism with <a href="/wiki/index.php/User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js" title="User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js">User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js</a></p> <a href="//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&amp;diff=281039&amp;oldid=277260">Show changes</a>

CRLF https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=277260&oldid=prev 2022-05-26T16:50:16Z

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Donald Trump https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=276432&oldid=prev 2022-05-23T18:44:34Z

<p>Reverted edits by <a href="/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Xray_Kilo_Charlie_Delta" title="Special:Contributions/Xray Kilo Charlie Delta">Xray Kilo Charlie Delta</a> (<a href="/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Xray_Kilo_Charlie_Delta&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="User talk:Xray Kilo Charlie Delta (page does not exist)">talk</a>) to last revision by <a href="/wiki/index.php?title=User:172.68.210.77&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="User:172.68.210.77 (page does not exist)">172.68.210.77</a></p> <a href="//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&amp;diff=276432&amp;oldid=273799">Show changes</a>

Jacky720 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=273799&oldid=prev 2022-05-23T18:06:20Z

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Xray Kilo Charlie Delta https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&diff=272548&oldid=prev 2022-05-21T01:32:37Z

<p>Undo revision 270774 by <a href="/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Explain_xkcd_server_admin" title="Special:Contributions/Explain xkcd server admin">Explain xkcd server admin</a> (<a href="/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Explain_xkcd_server_admin&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="User talk:Explain xkcd server admin (page does not exist)">talk</a>)</p> <a href="//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1642:_Gravitational_Waves&amp;diff=272548&amp;oldid=270774">Show changes</a>

172.68.210.77