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Hi all

In what way do "gravitational waves" differ from the ordinary, everyday
changes in gravitational force experienced by a body, such as is felt
on earth as the moon orbits?

I assume there must be some very fundamental difference else there
would not be such a big deal made about the detection of gravity waves.
You would just go down to the beach and watch the tides.

A layman's explanation would be great as I doubt I would understand a
very technical one.

Thanks for any help you can offer,


I look at these questions from a complexity science perspective.
Which is a bit different from classical physics.

The physical universe is properly understood through the mathematics
of biological evolution. For example, the following sentence holds
within it the fundamental laws of quantum, classical and living order.


Self-organization spontaneously emerges when light and motion
are in an unstable equilibrium with each other.


Or in a less abstract way.

The dynamic attractor emerges at the transition between the chaotic and static.


Evolution resides at the phase transition between quantum and classical behavior.
Natural selection emerges at the transition between mutation and genetics.
Market forces emerge at the transition between freedom and control.
Light emerges at the transition between energy and matter.
Inertia emerges at the transition between cosmic expansion and gravity.
Ideas emerge at the transition between inspiration and knowledge.
Fluids emerge at the transition between gasses and solids.
Clouds emerge at the transition between air and water.
Wisdom emerges at the transition between religion and science.
Love emerges at the transition between emotions and instinct.

Notice the first terms of all these relationships have no precise
mathematical formulation, but only statistical methods apply.
Notice the second term of all these have randomness as a
basic characteristic.
Notice the last terms are all essentially fixed or unchanging.

What we truly wish to understand, the first terms, all have to
pass from our particle physics through a random interface
to arrive at our ultimate goals.

That's not possible to do in an 'objective' or deterministic way
Understanding the universe emerges at the transition between
our intellect and senses. We can only 'know' the truth of our
existence, it cannot be proved.

Gravity is the static attractor of the universe.
It is one of two basic preferred states of the universe.
To try to define gravity in isolation is a Dark Age desire
born of our instinctive need for simplicity and comfort.



"The aim of science is not things themselves, as the dogmatists in their simplicity
imagine, but
the relations among things; outside these relations there is no reality knowable."

Henri Poincaré, Science and Hypothesis, 1905



Nature emerges at the transition between harmony and simplicity.


"Nature is what we see,
The Hill, the Afternoon
Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumble-bee,
Nay-Nature is Heaven.

Nature is what we hear,
The Bobolink, the Sea
Thunder, the Cricket
Nay,-Nature is Harmony.

Nature is what we know
But have no art to say,
So impotent our wisdom is
To Her simplicity"


By E Dickinson



Jonathan


http://www.necsi.org/publications/dcs/
http://wwwphy.princeton.edu/~steinh/
http://www.santafe.edu/sfi/People/ka...tigations.html
http://www.calresco.org/concept.htm




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Matt