• Natural Sciences -> Physics and astronomy

• 0 Comment

What are gravitational waves and how do they affect our universe?

Leaner Volette

Gravitational waves are like ripples in space that happen when really big things move around. These big things could be stars or even black holes. When they move, they create waves that move out in all directions.

Imagine you're sitting in a calm lake and you throw a rock into the water. When the rock hits the water, it creates ripples that move out from where the rock landed. Those ripples keep moving out until they reach the edge of the lake or until they hit something else, like a leaf floating on top of the water.

Gravitational waves work in a similar way, but instead of a lake, we're talking about space. And instead of a rock, we're talking about a really big object, like a star.

So how do gravitational waves affect our universe? Well, scientists have discovered that these waves can actually help us learn more about the universe and how it works.

For example, in 2015, scientists were able to detect gravitational waves for the first time ever. The waves were created when two black holes, which are incredibly dense objects in space, collided with each other. When they collided, they created a huge burst of energy that traveled through space as a gravitational wave.

By detecting these waves, scientists were able to learn more about black holes and how they behave. They were also able to confirm a theory that Albert Einstein came up with over 100 years ago. Einstein predicted that gravitational waves existed, but it took until 2015 for us to actually detect them.

So while we can't see gravitational waves with our eyes, scientists are able to use special instruments to detect them and learn more about the universe. And who knows, maybe one day we'll be able to use these waves to learn even more about the mysteries of space!