Speed of gravity

Did Einstein's theory change how we see gravity's speed?

Image: Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Speed of gravity

Did Einstein's theory change how we see gravity's speed?

Imagine you're watching a light show where beams travel across the stage. You expect them to move slowly, like a spotlight following an actor.

Einstein's idea was that gravity moves faster than light, not slowly. It's like the light beams in the show suddenly zipping across the stage at the speed of light, which is much faster than expected.

Example

A light beam (light) takes 1 second to travel across the stage (10 meters), but a gravitational wave (speed of gravity) travels across the stage in 1 second too, but it's moving much faster than light.

Remember this

Gravity's speed is the speed of light, not slower.

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