Bad news Quote by Andrew Thomas
““if the Sun disappeared instantaneously, the Earth would continue to orbit the position of the Sun for seven minutes until the bad news reached us in the form of gravitational waves.””
About This Quote
The quote explains that gravitational effects travel at the speed of light, so Earth would keep orbiting the Sun's former position for about seven minutes after its sudden disappearance, until we detect the change via gravitational waves.
In simple terms: Gravity acts with a delay; Earth would orbit Sun's spot for minutes after its loss.
Key Takeaway
Remember that physical forces have finite propagation speeds.
Themes
physics
astronomy
relativity
time delay
Mood
curious
thoughtful
Type
educational
scientific
When to use this quote
- science education
- space news
- physics lectures
Key Concepts
gravitational waves
light speed
orbit dynamics
Questions to Reflect On
- What would be the immediate consequences for life on Earth?
- How does this illustrate the finite speed of information?
A Different Perspective
The scenario is hypothetical and neglects other catastrophic effects that would follow the Sun's loss.
![“In fact, if you have a very large volume of mass at constant density, then it is guaranteed to become a black hole if the volume is large enough — no matter how small the density! [13] This means that if we had a large volume of soft cotton wool, with a uniformly low density, it would collapse to…” quote by Andrew Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5ba/andrew-thomas-21902_black-hole_in-fact-if-you-have-a-very-large-volume_1663514.jpg)
