Quote:
Originally Posted by Nesti
I cannot say for sure myself, but my tutor's words were very exact and match Steven's statement on this exact issue, "A gravity wave with enough intensity would tear your arms and legs off".
Io has a high degree of volcanic activity associated with the 'Tidal Forces' attributed to gravitation (a divergent field). But gravity waves seem to have just as great an impact if sufficiently intense.
Steven, is this the effect of an intense quadrapole, ie, the inflation and deflation of spacetime as the wave passes through a given spatial region...effectively overcoming electromagnetic bonds (tearing molecules apart by spatially and temporally separating the individual particles, maybe even atoms)????
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The forces exerted through a gravitational wave have a quadrupole symmetry. Using the the arms and legs analogy, if you held you arms out and the wave tore your arms off, the action of the force perpendicular to the arms would squash your body (assuming you were standing).
The reality however is the amplitude of gravitational wave is so small nothing as graphic as this will ever be observed. Also the electromagnetic and nucleur forces are extremely strong so it extremely doubtful for disruption to occur at a molecular or atomic level.
What I find interesting is if a gravitational wave has an effect at a molecular or atomic level in the same way as electromagnetic radiation.
In other words whether the energy of a gravitational wave can be absorbed by atoms and molecules.
If this can be observed it might be very strong evidence for the graviton.
It would be analogous to photons being emitted by atoms after absorbing electromagnetic radiation.
Regards
Steven