Creation Moment 2/16/2017 - Wave Transport

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

Isaiah 40:22

"Earthquakes generate waves within the earth, p-waves that propagate along the direction of the wave, and s-waves that propagate transverse (or perpendicular) to the direction of the wave. All these are examples of what are generally classified as mechanical waves, i.e., waves that result from the oscillation (rhythmic movement) of matter. This type of movement transfers energy through space

occupied by matter.

A second general wave classification is the electromagnetic wave, which does not require the presence of matter in order to transfer energy through space. Rather, it is the result of vibrations in the electrical and magnetic fields. Electromagnetic waves, unlike mechanical waves, can propagate through the apparent vacuum of outer space as well as through matter itself. When propagating through outer space, electromagnetic waves vibrate in planes perpendicular to the direction of motion. These are transverse waves. Electromagnetic waves familiar to our everyday experience include visible light, microwaves, and radio waves. Less familiar are gamma rays from radioisotope decay.

A third general wave classification is the gravitational wave. These waves are literally “ripples” in the space-time continuum caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in our universe. This type of wave oscillates in the transverse plane like an electromagnetic wave, but its possible polarization states are not described by a transverse vector like electromagnetic waves but are rather described by a transverse second rank tensor.

All waves have four characteristics that describe their propagation through the space-time continuum.

1. The first is amplitude (h), which describes the size or strength of a given wave. If the wave is passing through a medium, it describes the stretching or squeezing of that medium as the wave passes through it.
2. A second characteristic is frequency (ν), which describes how the wave oscillates in the medium it passes through.
3. Wavelength (λ) is the third characteristic. It’s the spatial distance between maximum points of stretch or compression in the wave.
4. Finally, speed (v) is the velocity with which a given point on the wave travels through space.

The last three characteristics are related, and this relation is expressed as v = λν.

For example, the gravitational waves from the cataclysmic final merger of GW150914 (a binary black hole) reached Earth, as a ripple in space-time that changed the length of the 4-km LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) arm by only one ten-thousandth the width of a proton—proportionally equivalent to changing the distance from our solar system to the nearest star by one hair’s width.
How much energy was released by the massive merger, and what was the frequency and wavelength of the gravitational wave?
First, we can estimate the energy released by calculating the energy equivalent of the missing mass after the merger. Before the merger, the total mass of both black holes was 36 + 29 solar masses, or approximately 65 solar masses. After the merger, a single black hole with a solar mass of 62 remained. What happened to the missing three solar masses? It was turned into the energy transported by the subsequent gravitational wave throughout the universe.
Using Einstein’s famous equation E = mc², where E is the energy equivalent of the missing mass and c is the speed of light, we can estimate the energy released as gravitational waves.

E = mc² = 3 × (1.989 × 10³⁰kg)(2.99792 × 10⁸m/sec.)
         ≈ 5.4 × 10⁴⁷ kg m²/sec² = 5.4 × 10⁴⁷ joules

So what exactly is this space-time continuum that oscillates like an electric quadrapole when mass is accelerated? How can gravitational waves transport massive amounts of energy through an apparent

vacuum?... Does this indicate that the apparent vacuum of outer space actually has a structure, fabric, or field we have yet to discover—that even empty space is “something” rather than “nothing”? Does the space-time continuum provide a transport mechanism for the natural phenomena we observe such as gravitational waves? This recent scientific discovery seems to confirm the Bible’s implication that space is a real entity with measurable properties.
God designed each aspect of reality to function in very specific ways that sustain life on Earth, and we are only beginning to understand the space-time continuum—the curtain God stretched out in the beginning." ICR