In reply to Stephen A. Lawrence's message of Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:41:21 -0400: Hi, [snip] >Second, and more to the point, a static "gravitational field", whether >Newtonian or classical GR, doesn't "propagate", it just "is". This is >*IDENTICAL* to the case of the (static) electrical field of an electron >or proton: The field doesn't "propagate", it just "exists". You cannot >discuss the "propagation velocity" of a static field because there is no >time-dependent property to it. (Note that, in my limited understanding >of current theory, charge is conserved; consequently, whatever charge >may be lying around was there from "the beginning", and there was never >any need to consider how the field behaved when it "appeared".) [snip] However, consider the case where a black hole swallows a planet sized chunk of matter. How long will it be before the *change* in strength of the gravitational field of the BH will be felt outside the event horizon? ...and perhaps more to the point how does the information pertaining to that change in mass escape?
Regards, Robin van Spaandonk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
