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BY VERNON
R. CUPPS, PH.D.
“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)
When God stretched
out the heavens, did He stretch out space itself?
If so, what exactly
is space? Is it a field, a fabric, or a structure we can measure?
Both are examples
from everyday life of wave phenomena. The impact of the stone on the water
causes waves to radiate from where the stone impacted the water.
Similarly, our
ability to listen to a Mozart symphony, a bird’s song, or conversations with
those around us depends on waves created in the air by vibrations of matter.
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 (i.e., space not occupied by matter) 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 and high-energy cosmic phenomena in the
earth’s upper atmosphere.
A third general wave
classification is the gravitational wave.
These waves are
literally “ripples” (see Figure 1) in the space-time continuum caused by some
of the most violent and energetic processes in our universe.
Analogous with
electromagnetic waves, which are generated by the acceleration of electrical
charges, gravitational waves are generated by the acceleration of massive objects,
and these waves are believed to travel at the speed of light.
Since the early 20th
century when Albert Einstein formulated his general relativity hypothesis, the
possibility for gravitational waves propagating through the space-time
continuum has been a topic of great interest and much discussion in mainstream
science.
Eddington confirmed
the general relativity prediction that starlight would be deflected by the
sun’s gravity.
Indirect evidence
supporting a prediction of general relativity was observed and documented by
astrophysicists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor in 1974.
They discovered that
the orbital decay of a binary pulsar they were studying matched the predictions
of general relativity.
Recently, another
prediction of general relativity that gravity should propagate energy via wave
phenomena when massive objects are accelerated was experimentally observed — thus
adding more supporting evidence to the general relativity hypothesis and
creating much excitement in the scientific community.
All waves have four
characteristics that describe their propagation through the space-time
continuum.
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.
A second
characteristic is frequency (ν), which describes how the wave
oscillates in the medium it passes through.
Wavelength (λ) is the third
characteristic. It’s the spatial distance between maximum points of stretch or
compression in the wave.
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.
Gravitational waves
have some characteristics that are similar to those of electromagnetic waves.
In fact, Henri
Poincaré first suggested in 1905 that accelerating masses should produce
gravitational waves much like accelerating electrical charges produce
electromagnetic waves.
Gravitational waves
are constantly passing through Earth, but the amplitudes of even the strongest
are minuscule when they arrive here, and thus they are extremely difficult to
detect.
For example, the
gravitational waves from the cataclysmic final merger of GW150914 (a binary
black hole) reached Earth, after traveling over a billion light-years, 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.
This ultra-precise
measurement marked a phenomenal scientific achievement.
Several questions
arise from this observation. 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.)2
≈ 5.4 × 1047 kg m2/sec2 = 5.4 × 1047
joules
This is approximately
1021 more energy than the total electromagnetic radiation given off by our sun.
According to
classical general relativity, gravitational waves propagate with a velocity
equal to the speed of light, i.e., v = c.
This allows us to
make some interesting inferences concerning the frequency and wavelength of the
observed black-hole merger.
We can extrapolate
the data presented in reference 1, Figure 12, into a table (Table 1) from which
we can estimate the frequency and wavelength of the gravitational wave
generated at the instant of merger.
The first thing to
note about Table 1 is that the wavelength extracted directly from the
experimental data would be in great error since c = λν.
This is because the
arms of the LIGO detector will vibrate with the frequency of the gravitational
wave but the wavelength recorded is a function of the experimental apparatus
and not the gravitational wave per se.
So, if we substitute
the Table 1 frequency into the c = λν formula and solve for λ we get:
Thus, the approximate
wavelength for the gravitational wave generated by the black hole merger is
1,500 kilometers.
While gravitational
waves possess many properties similar to electromagnetic waves, they are an
intrinsically different type of phenomena.
If gravitational
waves possess a quantum particle (the graviton) as its force carrier, it is
expected to be massless (i.e., the associated force has infinite range), and
unlike the electromagnetic photon it is believed to be a spin-2 boson.
This is still a
substantial mystery.
Many other questions
remain. Scientists still do not understand all the
nuances of space and time.
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?
In the biblical record, the Lord declared He stretched
out the heavens like a curtain.
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.
* Dr. Cupps is Research Associate at the Institute for
Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics at Indiana
University-Bloomington.
The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) wants people to know that God’s Word can be
trusted in everything it speaks about—from how and why we were made, to how the
universe was formed, to how we can know God and receive all He has planned for
us.
After 50 years of ministry, ICR remains a
leader in scientific research within the context of biblical creation. Founded
by Dr. Henry Morris in 1970, ICR exists to conduct scientific research within
the realms of origins and Earth history, and then to educate the public both
formally and informally through professional training programs, through
conferences and seminars around the country, and through
