July 1, 2008 Issue

Physics To Go 52 - Gravitational waves

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Physics in Your World

Bubble Colors image
image credit: Susan Scwartzenberg, © Exploratorium; image source; larger image

Bubble Colors

This Exploratorium photo shows the colored bands produced by a soap film. To learn what causes these patterns, see Bubble Colors and also the University of the Pacific's Light Interference (don't miss the peacock). For more, visit Hyperphysics' Soap Film Interference.

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Physics at Home

Wave Interference Applet

For a simple demonstration of wave superposition, check out this animation from the University of California, Irvine. To control the motion of the waves yourself, see Wave Interference Applet, by Zona Land.


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From Physics Research

Science of LIGO image
image credit: Ricky Geautreaux, Aero-Data Inc., Baton Rouge, LA; image source; larger image

Science of LIGO

Here's one of the world's longest optical interferometers--the LIGO observatory at Livingston, LA--built to detect gravitational waves. To learn about LIGO and gravitational waves, visit Science of LIGO. Check out this Google Maps' satellite image of LIGO-Livingston.


Worth a Look

Gravity: Making Waves

For an overview of Einstein's theory of gravity and the attempts to detect gravitational waves, visit Gravity: Making Waves.

Here's where you can learn about other efforts to detect gravitational waves . . .
-- indirectly (studying a pulsar in a double star system)
-- from space (LISA)

(This feature was updated on 6/11/10.)


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