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?
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Nitpick: the term for those is “gravitational wave”. Gravity wave refers to something else, it refers to waves in a liquid that are driven by the weight of the water (as opposed to capillary waves, which are driven by the surface tension).
Gravitational waves are just a consequence of the curvature of space time. If you take some empty space time, and apply a small distortion to it, the spacetime wants to return to an ordinary flat state. This causes it to vibrate, just like how when you pluck a string on a guitar or what have you, it wants to return to where it started, and that makes the string vibrate. In spacetime, that vibration is a gravitational wave.
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