what’s a gravity wave

Question

I understand that gravity is the curvature of space time. If that’s true, doesn’t it fully explain gravity? Why do we need gravity waves and/or gravitons?

In: 39

Answer 1

This is probably way to dumbed down but this is how I like to think of it. Space is a medium much like air. When something has so much energy (speed) it creates shockwaves in the medium (sonic boom). Well spacetime is the same way. When something huge happens (colliding supermassive blackholes or supernovas) they release so much energy in spacetime it propagates out. What moves out through spacetime is the gravitational wave