Gravitational Waves: What Happens to a Body Experiencing One?

[CassiopeiaA]

What happens to a body experiencing a gravitational wave?
Suppose I put a ball in the path of a GR wave. As the wave passes through it, the space will expand and contract. This means that the space between every point in the ball should expand and contract. But what will be the reference point I should consider while looking at such king of deformation?

Also what happens to the distances between electrons and nucleus inside every atom?

I have a very amateur knowledge about this subject. If someone has good links for explanations please post.

 

[haushofer]

Well, first of all it has to be a pretty impressive strong gravitational wave to overcome the bounding force between atomic particles. But in theory you should be able to measure the change in separation between two objects via interference.