What Are Gravitational Waves?

[PhysicsEnjoyer31415]

TL;DR Summary

I am not familiar with this model and i am only familiar with newtonian gravity yet, and some spacetime stuff but other than that i have no idea what is a gravitational wave. Is it like a wave ? That carries gravity??? If it is a wave , can it resonate to increase amplitude??? What would a increased amplitude even mean physically??do i even have enough brain to understand this stuff? I know that fields travel at the speed of light, so does this wave also travel at speed of light?

Many more questions....please enlighten me on this topic. thank you!

 

[Nugatory]

What have you already found looking for answers on your own?

We can help explain things that you're having trouble understanding, but the effort has to come from you.

 

[PhysicsEnjoyer31415]

What have you already found looking for answers on your own?

We can help explain things that you're having trouble understanding, but the effort has to come from you.

I found that they are ripples in spacetime. I saw a image of two stars rotating and the ripples were labelled gravitational waves

Oh and they also travel at the speed of light(a NASA site) and caused by supernova and such
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/gravitational-waves/en/

 

[Nugatory]

I found that they are ripples in spacetime. I saw a image of two stars rotating and the ripples were labelled gravitational waves

OK, that's a start - although as always you will get better and more helpful answers if you cite your sources so that we know whether you're being misled by a bogus explanation or misunderstanding a valid one.

Do you understand what flat spacetime is, and how spacetime curvature produces what appears to be a gravitational force?

 

[PhysicsEnjoyer31415]

OK, that's a start - although as always you will get better and more helpful answers if you cite your sources so that we know whether you're being misled by a bogus explanation or misunderstanding a valid one.

Do you understand what flat spacetime is, and how spacetime curvature produces what appears to be a gravitational force?

I do have a basic idea of flat spacetime and a curvature in that spacetime due to mass present causes gravitation (not a force when it comes to this i think ?)

 

[Nugatory]

OK, then the best thing you can do is get hold of Taylor and Wheeler's book "Spacetime Physics", legally available online for free, and start working through it. Take your time, don't skip any steps.

Yes, that's a fair amount of work. But then again you're basically speedrunning close to a decade of hard study to catch up with stuff that was worked over more than a century by some seriously smart people - there's no way of getting there without putting in a fair amount of work, and the people who have done it pretty much all agree that it's worth the effort.

 

[PhysicsEnjoyer31415]

OK, then the best thing you can do is get hold of Taylor and Wheeler's book "Spacetime Physics", legally available online for free, and start working through it. Take your time, don't skip any steps.

Yes, that's a fair amount of work. But then again you're basically speedrunning close to a decade of hard study to catch up with stuff that was worked over more than a century by some seriously smart people - there's no way of getting there without putting in a fair amount of work, and the people who have done it pretty much all agree that it's worth the effort.

Yes i was recommended this very book by users here, i have started it but not yet completed

 

[Nugatory]

Yes i was recommended this very book by users here, i have started it but not yet completed

Like I said.... Don't skip steps.