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Do Gravitational Waves Exhibit Wave-Particle Duality?
Forbes/Science ^ | 20 Feb. 2016 | Ethan Siegel

Posted on 02/24/2016 5:53:58 PM PST by MtnClimber

Now that LIGO has detected their first gravitational wave signal, the part of Einstein's theory that predicts that the fabric of space itself should have ripples and waves in it has been confirmed. This brings up all sorts of interesting questions, including this one from reader (and Patreon supporter!) Joe Latone, who asks:

"Are gravity waves expected to exhibit wave-particle duality, and if so, have LIGO physicists already conceived of ways to test it, like the double-slit experiment?"

It started out simply enough: matter was made of particles, things like atoms and their constituents, and radiation was made of waves. You could tell something was a particle because it would do things like collide and bounce off of other particles, stick together, exchange energy, become bound, etc. And you could tell something was a wave because it would diffract and interfere with itself. Newton got this one wrong about light, thinking it was made of particles, but others such as Huygens (his contemporary) and then the early-1800s scientists like Young and Fresnel showed definitively that light exhibited properties that couldn't be explained without considering it a wave.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: einstein; relativity; stringtheory
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1 posted on 02/24/2016 5:53:59 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

I’ve always said that.


2 posted on 02/24/2016 5:54:57 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Get Ready)
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To: MtnClimber

Lots of new experiments bring proposed very quickly. Interesting theories too.


3 posted on 02/24/2016 5:55:20 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

this is way over my head. LOL


4 posted on 02/24/2016 5:56:52 PM PST by txnativegop (Tired of liberals, even a few in my own family.)
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To: MtnClimber

No, but a nice high roller wave coming in at Rincon is neat.


5 posted on 02/24/2016 5:58:46 PM PST by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: MtnClimber

They are bi.


6 posted on 02/24/2016 6:08:24 PM PST by 17th Miss Regt
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To: MtnClimber

Creating a measurable gravity would seem like a real challenge.


7 posted on 02/24/2016 6:13:23 PM PST by sparklite2 ( "The white man is the Jew of Liberal Fascism." -Jonah Goldberg)
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To: MtnClimber
When the Buddha was asked whether there was God or no God, he simply refused to answer, or you could say his answer was slience. This has been mistaken to mean that Buddhist philosophy is atheist ... and that is incorrect.

When Joju was asked if the dog has Buddha nature ... which is a similar question ... he answered 'Mu!!!!!" ... sometimes this is taken to mean 'No', but it really means, "the question is invalid." Like asking 'Does 2 + 2 equal yellow, or green"

This is the nature of the wave particle issue. The question is invalid, "Mu" or silence are more accurate answers, in that they contain no incorrectness, which each of the wave vs particle answers do. It would also be incorrect to say it's both, and equally incorrect to say 'neither.'

The paradox is caused by the question, not the phenomena itself, which is unproblematic.

"Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form" is how this was expressed thousands of years ago, though with the caveat that even that is not 'correct', it is merely less incorrect than anything else you can say. (Add to that, Form is Form, Emptiness is Emptiness, No Form, Nor Emptiness and so on.)

I understand that all of that will satisfy no one, but then I'm not asking for credit or to get paid for pointing it out.

8 posted on 02/24/2016 6:14:15 PM PST by tinyowl (A equals A)
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To: MtnClimber

If it moves, it’s a wave. A singularity does not move until it is no longer a singularity.

Music works because it does something besides sit idle ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI3USGvj8MA&list=PLC9C44FE4E0F8236F&index=196


9 posted on 02/24/2016 6:16:24 PM PST by soycd
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To: MtnClimber

Oh hell yes!


10 posted on 02/24/2016 6:16:29 PM PST by traderrob6
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To: txnativegop

“this is way over my head. LOL”

Do you feel something pulling you towards the ceiling?


11 posted on 02/24/2016 6:21:19 PM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame enobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: tinyowl

Fine! No credit for you!!!


12 posted on 02/24/2016 6:27:03 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: DannyTN

Mu!


13 posted on 02/24/2016 6:28:51 PM PST by tinyowl (A equals A)
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To: soycd

Good music. I had never heard of them. Off to listen to some of their other stuff.


14 posted on 02/24/2016 6:30:06 PM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame enobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: MtnClimber
If gravity waves move space and time, and we are told that space can expand faster than light, why is it that we are told that gravity waves must travel at the speed of light?
15 posted on 02/24/2016 6:32:31 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

Space and Time can expand to infinity because it has no mass.


16 posted on 02/24/2016 6:36:26 PM PST by soycd
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To: tinyowl

LOL


17 posted on 02/24/2016 6:39:43 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: MtnClimber
Who approacheth the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.

(Gulps) OK, sir, ask me the three questions.

What is your name?

Uh, it's William T. Drill, sir.

What is your quest?

Well, a winning season for the Mariners would be nice.

Do Gravitational Waves Exhibit Wave-Particle Duality?

Oh, crap! I dunno. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

18 posted on 02/24/2016 6:47:01 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Yep - I’m of the opinion now that everything has duality particle/wave. everything is part of the continuum based on the frequency. As the frequency becomes longer the mass become more prominent ... thus gravitons with very long wave frequencies have more mass, light less mass higher frequency, sound is actually a frequency of air molecules, etc.... should lead to some interesting discussions on frequency interactions I should think.


19 posted on 02/24/2016 6:53:33 PM PST by reed13k (w)
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To: MtnClimber

Gravity Sucks!


20 posted on 02/24/2016 7:09:13 PM PST by Signalman
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