[Amps] "Conventional" current flow

[Catherine James]

Bill,

   I'm just repeating what I've seen stated by physicists over decades.  I've never seen any hint that gravity waves can travel faster than light.

   Mainstream theory is that all forces are carried by virtual exchange particles. Gravity is carried by gravitons, which have not been directly detected, but are believed to have well-defined physical properties such as zero rest-mass and spin of +2 or -2.  Not all virtual exchange particles are massless, but those with mass cannot exist in a virtual state for very long, so they can only mediate short-range forces.  For example, the pi-meson or pion has a mass of approximately 270 times the electron mass, and it mediates the strong nuclear force.  Long-range forces such as gravity and electromagnetism are mediated by zero mass particles.

   All particles with zero rest-mass travel at the speed of light at all times in all reference frames.  So gravity waves, which are carried by gravitons, travel at the speed of light.

   If it turns out that gravity propagates faster than light, it would upset all known physical theories.  Not impossible, perhaps, but not predicted by any living physicist and would be revolutionary Nobel Prize material if proved true.

Disclaimer:  my formal background is in engineering, not physics.

73,
Cathy
N5WVR

Bill  W6WRT wrote:
> Being a rather skeptical bunch here, we need a bit more convincing. How do you know?