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Asked by 565gdge33 to Chris, Hayley, Jimi on 17 Mar 2016.
Question: Why is the recent confirmation of gravitational waves important for science?
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Jimi Wills answered on 17 Mar 2016:
A few reasons…
firstly, they were postulated a long time ago by Einstein as part of his theroy of relativity… so proving they exist further validates that theory, which lot of other work is based on (so, phew!)
secondly, gravitation is a weird force, because it’s so weak and we don’t know why. hopefully these waves will help us understand
thridly, it’s a new way to observe things in the universe… if we can harness it… but we could make “gravitational telescpes”
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Chris Conselice answered on 17 Mar 2016:
It is because these waves are a central prediction of einstein’s theory of gravity. It means that matter interacts through these waves – it’s the way that gravity works. So it is a fundamental discovery for that reason.
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Hayley Moulding answered on 17 Mar 2016:
Amazing question. It basically helps to explain that Einstein was a very very clever man and all physics we have been doing since then is still all okay and valid. If they hadn’t have been confirmed, we might have had to change physics! That changes everything, but we are okay! Don’t worry!
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