But before going into their properties, let us discuss how they're formed.
Just as I mentioned above, imagine you move your finger though a calm water body. Ripples would be formed, right? That is somewhat similar to how gravitational waves are formed.
Picture it like this. Your finger is a body in space that accelerates, and the calm water is the fabric of space time. That is how these waves are formed.
They are formed due to the acceleration of anything, even you and me. But the light weighed objects produce very weak waves, which cause no direct effect and cannot be detected using present technologies.
We can only detect waves that are very strong. And the strength of a gravitational wave is directly proportional to the mass of the cause. So, the greater the mass of the objects accelerating, the stronger the wave.
These strong gravitational waves include the ones formed when two black holes merge, or when there is an asymmetrical supernova formation, or neuron star collisions!
Now, let's understand the physics behind this.
When these massive objects accelerate they disrupt the fabric of space time that waves form
Now speaking of their properties, gravitational waves stretch and squeeze the fabric of space time itself as they pass, resulting the stretching and squeezing of the matter that come in the way.
However, they do impact the matter that comes in way but they do not interact with matter, meaning they don't get blocked by it. This comes as an advantage for research because light and electromagnetic radiations get absorbed or scattered the matter coming in their way. But gravitational waves do not, meaning we can study their sources in detail.
If there is anything in particular about space that fascinates you, please share you enthusiasm in the comments down below!
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