Calc Speed: Warping Space with Mass & Infinity

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Jake Minneman
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Calculation Speed
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
3 replies · 2K views
Jake Minneman
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Is it possible to calculate the speed at which a massive object warps the fabric of space? Does the mass of said object directly effect the rate at which the fabric is warped? What would happen if the said object was infinitely massive?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
gravitational waves travel at the speed of light :smile:
 
If you are using General Relativity as the theory then all changes to the metric of spacetime propagate at c.
 
Jake Minneman said:
Is it possible to calculate the speed at which a massive object warps the fabric of space? Does the mass of said object directly effect the rate at which the fabric is warped? What would happen if the said object was infinitely massive?
  1. If the mass is constant and moves inertially, then there is no change to the "warping" relative to the mass's position
  2. If the mass accelerates, any change in the "warping" moves at the speed of light, as others have said
  3. There is no such thing as an infinite mass so the last question has no answer