On Sat, 10 Jul 1999 08:51:23 -0700 Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net> writes:
>
>Gravitons are extremely low frequency photons, so in
>a sense gravity waves are still EM radiation. (Right?)
>
>Neutrinos? You got me on that one. {8-] Messages
>sent that way would be like the lessons given me by
>my school teachers, for most of them would pass
>through without affecting me in any way... {8^D spike
>
>
Neutrinos are rather easy to generate, as they are produced by many nuclear reactions. But they are very difficult to detect, and even more difficult to control, using present technology. It is believed that trillions of neutrinos pass thru an object the size of a human body each second. Most neutrinos which strike the earth pass right on thru without interacting with anything. There are already so many neutrinos coursing thru the space around us that even if we did have a reliable method of detecting them there would still be the problem of sorting out the ones which carry the message we are looking for. There are believed to be several different types of neutrinos, and some types might have a small amount of mass.
We use photons to carry messages (radio, TV, etc.). With photon communication, frequency filters and (sometimes) directivity of antennas are used to sort out the particular photons which carry the message we are looking for. For example, the channel selector on a TV set controls a frequency filter, and a receivers for signals from satellites sometimes use a directive dish antenna which must be pointed at the appropriate satellite, thus excluding photons from other directions.
Gravitons are not photons. Gravitons, if they exist, would be the particles which mediate the graviational force, just as photons are the particles which mediate the electromagnetic force. Gravitational waves are thought to be produced when matter accelerates or vibrates. They are thought to travel thru space at the speed of light, and they are very difficult to detect with present technology. Gravity waves are a different phenomenon than gravitational waves. Gravity waves are waves consisting of the motion of fluid matter in a gravitational field. The ripples on the surface of a pond are called gravity waves.
Ron Kean
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