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Gravity Wave Detector Ready For Business

Posted by timothy on from the very-expensive-ripples dept.

Arthur Embleton writes "The BBC has an article about a Gravity Wave Detector. There are two L shaped set-ups. One in Washington, the other in Louisiana. They've got a Laser pointing at a mirror 4km away, watching for the reflection and if it is distorted then it shows that there has been a gravitational pulse, possibly by two Black Holes colliding. The detectors are apparently so accurate they can measure to one-thousandth of the width of a proton! How did they test that it works?"

4 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. I must correct myself by lingqi · · Score: 2, Funny
    for number one above, from here:

    Observing this fantastically tiny effect is equivalent to detecting the motion of Saturn if it were to move closer to the sun by the diameter of a single hydrogen atom

    so it's not the diameter of a proton but the diameter of a hydrogen atom. A lot better, but well, still pretty small.

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

  2. Showing that it works by Twylite · · Score: 3, Funny
    How did they test that it works?

    As everyone is well aware, a gravaton pulse has a 78.2% probability of overloading the power conduits leading to microfractures in the dilithium chamber and a chain reaction that causes a rift in the space-time continuum.

    Basically, Seven of Nine appeared briefly, bad mouthed someone about something they may do one day in an alternate future, recalibrated the sensors not to detect her, and never appeared in the first place.

    Scientists analysing the situation need only to look for a slight seemingly-random deviation in the operational parameters and one operator who feels insulted for no particular reason, in order to prove this theory.

    --
    i-name =twylite [http://public.xdi.org/=twylite], see idcommons.net
  3. Re:"This week's finds" on LIGO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Baez is a great place to start if you like understanding connections between all kinds of different areas of math & physics (which, of course, includes everything else :)

    And what a versatile person; folk music AND advanced maths..

    Oh, wait.. you said JOHN Baez?
    Oops.

  4. How did they test it? by Random+BedHead+Ed · · Score: 1, Funny

    How did they test that it works? Easy. You or I could probably do it. Just pick up a proton and measure it with a yardstick, and compare that measurement to that of the gravity wave sensor.