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Sean Carroll

👤 Person
10759 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Well, it's because two black holes were orbiting each other, or a black hole and a neutron star, and they're orbiting, so they're circling around each other, so that's more or less like being shaken back and forth, and they're emitting gravitational waves, and those gravitational waves are what you ultimately observe.

Well, it's because two black holes were orbiting each other, or a black hole and a neutron star, and they're orbiting, so they're circling around each other, so that's more or less like being shaken back and forth, and they're emitting gravitational waves, and those gravitational waves are what you ultimately observe.

The energy loss due to that emission of gravitational waves is what causes the black holes to spiral together and eventually coalesce. There you go. Taylor Gray says, I'm currently reading former Mindscape guest Matt Strassler's book, Waves in an Impossible Sea. The book states that the faster you go past a magnet in the magnetic field, the more you will detect the electric field.

The energy loss due to that emission of gravitational waves is what causes the black holes to spiral together and eventually coalesce. There you go. Taylor Gray says, I'm currently reading former Mindscape guest Matt Strassler's book, Waves in an Impossible Sea. The book states that the faster you go past a magnet in the magnetic field, the more you will detect the electric field.

What mechanism, for lack of a better term, makes this so? Again, this is a question that the satisfactoriness of the answer is going to depend on your prior exposure to physics. Let me give you the highest level answer right away, which is that according to the theory of relativity, the electric and magnetic fields are just two different aspects of the same underlying field.

What mechanism, for lack of a better term, makes this so? Again, this is a question that the satisfactoriness of the answer is going to depend on your prior exposure to physics. Let me give you the highest level answer right away, which is that according to the theory of relativity, the electric and magnetic fields are just two different aspects of the same underlying field.

Exactly in the same way, not exactly exactly, but very, very analogous to how time and space are two different aspects of the same underlying space-time. The electric field and the magnetic field are two different aspects of the underlying electromagnetic field, if you want to put it that way. Very, very roughly, the sort of spatial components are the magnetic field.

Exactly in the same way, not exactly exactly, but very, very analogous to how time and space are two different aspects of the same underlying space-time. The electric field and the magnetic field are two different aspects of the underlying electromagnetic field, if you want to put it that way. Very, very roughly, the sort of spatial components are the magnetic field.

The temporal, time-like components are the electric field. But that's not exactly right, but it has something to do with it. The point is that when you do a Lorentz transformation—

The temporal, time-like components are the electric field. But that's not exactly right, but it has something to do with it. The point is that when you do a Lorentz transformation—

which is to say, if you go from one reference frame, like we were just talking about with the large object, you go from one reference frame to another, which you can do by either moving yourself or by moving the magnet or the charged particle or some other electromagnetic phenomenon. Either you move it or you move you, it doesn't matter.

which is to say, if you go from one reference frame, like we were just talking about with the large object, you go from one reference frame to another, which you can do by either moving yourself or by moving the magnet or the charged particle or some other electromagnetic phenomenon. Either you move it or you move you, it doesn't matter.

You are now shifting, rotating the different parts of the electromagnetic field into each other so that... Exactly for the same reason why moving at a constant velocity means that you define the division of spacetime into time and space slightly differently than a person who is not moving in the original reference frame.

You are now shifting, rotating the different parts of the electromagnetic field into each other so that... Exactly for the same reason why moving at a constant velocity means that you define the division of spacetime into time and space slightly differently than a person who is not moving in the original reference frame.

Now you also define what part of the electromagnetic field is electric and what part of it is magnetic slightly differently. So this was a crucial feature of, of course, the empirical, the historical development of relativity. It was first these wonderful experiments done in the mid-1800s that culminated in Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism that showed that

Now you also define what part of the electromagnetic field is electric and what part of it is magnetic slightly differently. So this was a crucial feature of, of course, the empirical, the historical development of relativity. It was first these wonderful experiments done in the mid-1800s that culminated in Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism that showed that

that empirically you could make an electric field by moving a magnet and vice versa, that eventually led to different transformation laws, Lorentz and Fitzgerald and so forth, and Poincare, and Einstein eventually unifying the whole bit.

that empirically you could make an electric field by moving a magnet and vice versa, that eventually led to different transformation laws, Lorentz and Fitzgerald and so forth, and Poincare, and Einstein eventually unifying the whole bit.

So the very short answer is the electric magnetic fields are two different aspects of the same single underlying electromagnetic field, and they are transformed into each other by changing your frame of reference.

So the very short answer is the electric magnetic fields are two different aspects of the same single underlying electromagnetic field, and they are transformed into each other by changing your frame of reference.