Ultimate Goal of E@H?
3 Mar 2005 16:41:15 UTC
Topic 188224
(moderation:
I understand that E@H is looking through massive amounts of data to try and find gravitational ripples or waves, but then what? If we find ripples or waves, what does that ultimately tell us? Is this supposed to be a key to the puzzle of how Earth's gravity field works? I have seen many Physics experiments in my day that I completely understand what is being tested, but have a much more difficult time understanding why it is being tested.
What has led us up to this point, and what do we hope to gain from this data?
Ultimate Goal of E@H?
)
it (the project) is trying to find just that.. gravitational waves.
there is no proof of their existence, though einstein theorized that they did exist. detecting them and proving their existence would score mr. einstein some more kudos points ^-^
i'm not a scientist so i'm not going to explain the reasons why gravitational waves are thought to exist and why they are so difficult to detect, i'll let someone else tackle that one.
According to Einstein's
)
According to Einstein's General Relativity, gravity can cause oscillations (or waves) in spacetime which can transmit energy. Unfortunately, gravity is a weak force. In order to detect a gravitational wave (as opposed to gravity waves which occur in hydrodynamics), we need the effects of one or more major massive stars. Neutron stars will do quite nicely. Pulsars with milliscond pulse patterns are ideal.
With the discovery of the double neutron binary system PSR B1913+16 in 1974 by Hulse and Taylor (Nobel prize in 1993) and the annoucement of its slowing of orbit in 1983 (agreeing exactly with the slowing predicted by Einstein if attributed to gravitational wave radiation), gravitational waves were proved to exist. Unfortunately, this was a computational confirmation and not a direct observation.
The E@H project is searching the whole sky for undetected pulsars. Your computer (and mine) is doing Fourier transforms on data collected from Hanford looking for periodic perturbations of a laser beam shined down two perpendicular 4 km "arms". If the project finds periodic pulses, it's most likely they're caused by gravitational waves.
The importance of the project is much greater than merely an understanding of Earth's gravity. It's the beginning of an understanding of all of space/time and the manner that gravity affects all things. It's another confirmation of GR and a step towards TOE. Once gravitational waves are observed (not if, IMHO) we've began a step more massive and life changing than the first transistor or first laser. Predicting the changes due to observation and eventual usage of gravitational waves is akin to asking what you could do with electricity.
Did I answer your question? If I got a part of it "untidy", I'm sure someone will correct me.
There are two secrets to life: 1) Don't tell everything you know...
Finding a pulsar will make
)
Finding a pulsar will make alot of far out theories into fact. It will certainly change alot of things on how we view the universe...and...universe's ;)
> Finding a pulsar will make
)
> Finding a pulsar will make alot of far out theories into fact. It will
> certainly change alot of things on how we view the universe...and...universe's
> ;)
How do you figure that?? Don't we already know of quite a lot of Pulsars? Finding one more doesn't seem like a big deal.... Unless it's that special type that nobody else knows about.... :).
Cheers,
Gary.
The unlimate goal is to know
)
The unlimate goal is to know if they (gravitational waves) exist. What we can do with the the knowledge is fairly unanswerable, since we don't have it yet. But what we're following is the basic underlying principle that guides pure science: develop an accurate and precise picture of our Universe.
If we ultimately succeed or fail at detecting gravitational waves we've succeeded in making our model of the universe that much more accurate.
Pure science is the ulitmate "what's over that hill?" search. Why go look? To see what's there! What are you going to do after you've looked? You're going to know!
Rich W.
>What are you going to do
)
>What are you going to do after you've looked? You're going to know!
You might also learn what to look for next! :)
Wanna visit BOINC Synergy site? Click my stats!
Join BOINC Synergy Team
we've began -> we've
)
we've began -> we've begun
universe's -> universes
"My other computer is a virus farm."