I never understood how gravity waves can go through anything and not be weakened?
If the wave imparts energy on an object and makes it move, how is that energy still available for the next object the wave goes through?
If the wave imparts energy on an object and makes it move, how is that energy still available for the next object the wave goes through?
Based on conservation of energy, I would assume that friction can weaken a gravitational wave by turning some of its energy into heat.
Though if we're talking about permanently changing the location of an object, that theoretically requires a negligible amount of energy... reminds me of the magic drive in https://qntm.org/frontier
It turns out that energy is not conserved globally in General Relativity.
https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/energy_...
The objects don't move. The space between them stretches and compresses.
Now, if the gravitational wave moves through a large massive object like a star or planet, the electromagnetic forces of the "stuff" in the object will cause it to resist this stretching or compressing. I think this does cause a very very very tiny "backreaction" to the gravitational wave, weakening it slightly.