22nd June 2016
What are gravitational waves?
Gravitational waves are vibrations that occur when highly dense cosmological elements like dwarf stars, neutron stars or black holes come together and collide or merge. The vibrations produced are commonly known as ‘ripples’, for they travel in a manner similar to the ripples formed when a stone is pelted in a pond or lake. The colliding bodies disturb the stillness of ‘spacetime’ (the space in four dimensions including time) giving rise to gravitational waves. The energy emitted during the process is known as gravitational radiation.
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