I cannot remember where the experiments are conducted but,,,,

Question

Have physicists gotten any closer to proving that gravitational waves exist? What practical applications will result if we prove they exist and create them in a lab setting? It seems to me that we could do some amazing things if we can harness their power.

Answer 1

Earth-based experiments like LIGO don't have good enough sensitivity because you can't make them big enough and there's too much noise in your signal on earth.  Going to space helps with both problems.  It's very possible that a space-based experiment like LISA may detect gravitational waves coming from a supernova.  I'll disagree with Bill on the practical applications, though.  This is of purely academic interest for the foreseeable future--just confirming a result of general relativity.  Gravitational waves are so weak and it takes so much moving mass to create one that I've never even heard anyone with a sci-fi mindset propose an application.  But who knows?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIGO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Inter...

Answer 2

Last I heard, there's a huge station being set up in... Michigan, I believe, to search for them. Also, they're working on a set of space probes that will go into a orbit around the sun itself which will form a kind of large sensory device to search for gravitational waves.

They would be difficult to create in a lab. Of course, theoretically, the movement of any object creates a gravitational wave, but most are far too small to observe. Most of the waves we are trying to listen for come from huge astronomical events, such as the collapse of a star.

Someday, we may have a more clear idea of how to control them, and yes, we would be able to do amazing things. We've already mastered electromagnetic waves, and look how far we've come as a race since then.

Answer 3

Anybody with common sense and a simple understanding of gravity would say yes that they exist, but the scientific community needs 19 super computers to put the puzzle that a five year old could together, but as for your question I am ignorant to the scientific communities discoveries, sorry for my rant :)