The Absurdity of Detecting Gravitational Waves
A head-vaporizing laser with a perfect wavelength detecting sub-proton space-time ripples.
Huge thanks to Prof Rana Adhikari and LIGO: http://ligo.org
Here's how he felt when he learned about the first ever detection: https://youtu.be/ViMnGgn87dg
Thanks to Patreon supporters:
Nathan Hansen, Donal Botkin, Tony Fadell, Saeed Alghamdi, Zach Mueller, Ron Neal
Support Veritasium on Patreon: http://bit.ly/VePatreon
A lot of videos have covered the general overview of the discovery of gravitational waves, what they are, the history of the search, when they were found but I wanted to delve into the absurd science that made the detection possible.
When scientists want one megawatt of laser power, it's not just for fun (though I'm sure it's that too), it's because the fluctuations in the number of photons is proportional to their square root, making more powerful beams less noisy (as a fraction of their total). The smoothest mirrors were created not for aesthetic joy but because when you're trying to measure wiggles that are a fraction the width of a proton, a rough mirror surface simply won't do.
Filmed by Daniel Joseph Files
Music by Kevin MacLeod, http://www.incompetech.com "Black Vortex" (appropriately named)
Music licensed from Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com "Observations 2" (also appropriately named)
Видео The Absurdity of Detecting Gravitational Waves канала Veritasium
Huge thanks to Prof Rana Adhikari and LIGO: http://ligo.org
Here's how he felt when he learned about the first ever detection: https://youtu.be/ViMnGgn87dg
Thanks to Patreon supporters:
Nathan Hansen, Donal Botkin, Tony Fadell, Saeed Alghamdi, Zach Mueller, Ron Neal
Support Veritasium on Patreon: http://bit.ly/VePatreon
A lot of videos have covered the general overview of the discovery of gravitational waves, what they are, the history of the search, when they were found but I wanted to delve into the absurd science that made the detection possible.
When scientists want one megawatt of laser power, it's not just for fun (though I'm sure it's that too), it's because the fluctuations in the number of photons is proportional to their square root, making more powerful beams less noisy (as a fraction of their total). The smoothest mirrors were created not for aesthetic joy but because when you're trying to measure wiggles that are a fraction the width of a proton, a rough mirror surface simply won't do.
Filmed by Daniel Joseph Files
Music by Kevin MacLeod, http://www.incompetech.com "Black Vortex" (appropriately named)
Music licensed from Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com "Observations 2" (also appropriately named)
Видео The Absurdity of Detecting Gravitational Waves канала Veritasium
Показать
Комментарии отсутствуют
Информация о видео
Другие видео канала
How Scientists Reacted to Gravitational Wave DetectionThe Science Behind the Butterfly EffectThis Particle Breaks Time SymmetryWhy The Speed Of Light* Can't Be MeasuredWorld's Lightest Solid!How Was Video Invented?How Microwaving Grapes Makes PlasmaSpinning Black HolesThis equation will change how you see the world (the logistic map)Gravitational Waves Hit The Late ShowParallel Worlds Probably Exist. Here’s WhyWhat are gravitational waves? - Amber L. StuverGravity VisualizedIs This What Quantum Mechanics Looks Like?I Waterproofed Myself With Aerogel!The Bizarre Behavior of Rotating Bodies, ExplainedWhy Machines That Bend Are BetterEinstein Was Right: Gravitational Waves 101 | Rainer Weiss | TEDxNatick3 Perplexing Physics ProblemsA new way to visualize General Relativity