Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Dawes on 07/02/2006 23:36:21

Title: Graviton
Post by: Dawes on 07/02/2006 23:36:21

Tuesday, February 7, 2006   3:36 PM Pacific
If space warps is there still a need for a graviton?

Dawes

Title: Re: Graviton
Post by: Soul Surfer on 08/02/2006 08:41:34

Yes.  The graviton refers to cyclic warping of space by the passage of gravitational energy.  To give you an electrical field analogy.  a gravitational field is like a static electrical field produced by charging an object up it attracts oppositrly carged or neutara(because of induced charge) objects but does not radiate.  To generate radiation you need an alternating electrical field like that in a radio transmitter or an electron "going round" an atom.  So the only things that radiate gravitons are objects orbiting each other ot passing by deflecting each other's courses not pbject sitting there doing nothing in particular.

Learn, create, test and tell
evolution rules in all things
God says so!

Title: Re: Graviton
Post by: tony6789 on 08/02/2006 14:33:56

what do you mean by "warps"?

- Big T

Title: Re: Graviton
Post by: Soul Surfer on 08/02/2006 19:23:59

The attractive force due to gravity is generally described as the effect of mass in warping space.  If two objects are orbiting each other the space near them is being warped cyclically.  This generates gravity waves which are transmitted in the form of gravitons in the same way that hot objects emit pgotons of light.  This effect is generally far to small to observe on normal orbiting objects but there are cases of neutron star binaries in close orbits which are losing energy by precisely the amount expected of gravitational waves.

Neutron stars have a mass of about a couple of solar masses, are a few km across and are only slightly bigger than a blackhole of the same mass.



Learn, create, test and tell
evolution rules in all things
God says so!

Title: Re: Graviton
Post by: DocN on 10/02/2006 21:18:19

I'm reading a good book on this topic--called: "Einstein's Unfinished Symphony" by M. Bartusiak (Berkley Book) dealing with the detection of gravitational waves or quakes that compress and stretch spacetime.  Some research is being done in the detection of colliding neutron stars and supernovas with the possibility of new insights as to the true nature of the universe.
Doc

Title: Re: Graviton
Post by: ukmicky on 10/02/2006 23:28:52

what happens to a graviton, does it decay or continue moving forever.
Michael

Title: Re: Graviton
Post by: Soul Surfer on 11/02/2006 10:20:47

Like a photon it travels for ever at the speed of light.  presumably the energy in each graviton is defined by h nu  ie plancks constant and frequency like a photon but as most gravitiational interactions are incredibly slow compared with electromagnetic ones most of them represent very tiny amounts of energy.  its difficult to think of gravitiational events lasting less than a nanosecond! mpst photons involve events orders of magnitude quicker than this.

I am interested if any scientists have connsidered the pssibility of there being a lower limit to the frequency and therefore energy of interactions because the gravitons just can't fit into the universe!

Learn, create, test and tell
evolution rules in all things
God says so!