# Gravity Waves

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-waves/5110>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 3, 1999, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-waves/5110 "1999-12-03T17:16:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-waves/5110/1 "1999-12-03T17:16:00Z")

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This article illustrates what I was getting at about when I asked that Bob Lazar question a couple of weeks ago: [http://www.abovetopsecret.com/element115.html](http://www.abovetopsecret.com/element115.html)  
I think you can pretty much assume any website called Above Top Secret will not be a haven for sound scientific theories, but does the bit about gravity extending past the perimeter of the atom sound possible? Would it be possible to access it and amplify it like other electromagnetic waves? It looks like they might mix just enough science with their nonsense to make it palatable.

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**Author:** ![TheDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@TheDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheDude)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-waves/5110/2 "1999-12-04T06:22:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> does the bit about gravity extending past the perimeter of the atom sound possible?

It does more than sound possible, it is true. Gravity (by which I assume you mean the effects thereof) definitely extends beyond the perimeter of the object in question or else it could not operate as a force. Remember the inverse square law? It says that the force, although it decays as the square of the distance between two masses, extends out to infinity.

However, the rest of that nonsense is exactly that.

> [@](#):
>
> It looks like they might mix just enough science with their nonsense to make it palatable.

Yeah, this is exactly what Star Trek does to make a (somewhat) believeable story. Seriously, this is actually the dangerous part. It’s people who are smart enough to be able to coat their particular nonsense with a patina of psuedoscience that are able to attract cultlike followers.

TheDude

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**Author:** ![InutilisVisEst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d2c977/32.png) [@InutilisVisEst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InutilisVisEst)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 1999, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gravity-waves/5110/3 "1999-12-05T04:28:00Z")

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This site: ([http://sam.phys.lsu.edu/background/index.html](http://sam.phys.lsu.edu/background/index.html))  
has some excellent info on gravitic waves, including a picture of the big ol’ aluminum bar gravity wave detector I got to see at the Smithsonian.

Alas, most of the stuff on that AboveTopSecret page is hooey. Star Trek’s technobabble is a good comparison, indeed.