My husband came home last night all excited. He had read an article in the Guardian that Gravitational Waves had been discovered. This is, apparently, the last unproved idea from Einstein.
What are gravitational waves you ask? The Globe and Mail had a good analogy. Below is a their explanation from the article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/einsteins-gravitational-waves-detected-in-scientific-milestone/article28713410/
Ripples in space
The key to understanding gravitational waves is to forget the idea that gravity is an invisible force of attraction between two massive objects. Instead, picture the space around those objects as curved in a way that causes them to move together.
The curvature of space cannot be seen, but its effects are obvious. Think of a bowling ball sitting on a trampoline. The weight of the bowling ball deforms the stretchy trampoline surface, creating a dip. Put a second bowling ball on the trampoline and the two balls naturally roll toward each other until they touch, forming a bigger dip. Click! That’s gravity in action, with the trampoline representing space.
The gravational wave came from two black holes colliding. Black holes can’t be seen because space curves so badly around them that light can’t escape and if it can’t escape we can’t see it but now it can be heard (it is a wave!). Their collision which took place 1.3 BILLION years ago was detected. Like a stone in a pond, the wave propagated through space and across time to reach two, not just one but two, listening posts.
“Hmmm,” you say, “but what exactly does that mean to me?”
Good question and I don’t know what it really MEANS. I barely understand it. But as the article says this is as big a deal as when Galileo turned his telescope to the heavens for the first time. Look where we are now and we wouldn’t be there without that craving to understand what is around, above and below us. So I am really excited about where this will lead us – into the unknown and speculative fiction which has been talking about harnessing the power of black holes for years will be all over this.