引力波：宇宙中看不见的涟漪

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1、引力波：宇宙中看不见的涟漪　　Youprobablyheardthenewsrecently：Scientistsdetectedsomethingcalledgravitationalwaves，andtheyareoverthemoon1）withjoy.　　So，what'sagravitationalwave？　　Well，saysKellyHerbst，aphysicistandastronomycurator2）attheVirginiaLivingMuseuminNewportNews，it'salittlecompli

2、cated."Youcan'treallyfeelthesegravitationalwaves.They'renotlikeoceanwaveshittingyou."　　Yetthewavesarestrongenoughthattheychangetheveryfabric3）oftheuniverse.　　Herbstexplains："Thefabricofspaceiskindoflikeabigrubbersheet4）.Youputabowlingballonthesheet，anditmakesthisbiginde

3、ntation5）."Droptheball，orrollitaround，andyoumayseesmallripplesonthesheet.Otherobjects―thinkofthemasbeingthesizeoftennisballsormarbles―areaffectedbythoseripples.Theymaybob6）upanddownormovealittletothesideastheripplepassesthrough.　　Thoseripplesarejustlikegravitationalwave

4、s.　　Ittakesamassiveobject―abowlingball，notamarble―to6formwavesthatscientistscandetect.Inthiscase，itwasapairofblackholesthatspunaroundeachotherfasterandfaster，eventuallymerging7）tobecomeone.　　Blackholesareextremelydense.Theseparticularoneseachhadthemassofabout30suns.　　Be

5、causethey'resodense，theyhaveapowerfulgravitationalpull.Likehungryhipposeatingeverythingthatcomesnear，theysuckinplanets，starsandanythingelsethatcrossestheirpath.Incredibly，evenlightgetssuckedin.Thatishowblackholesgottheirname：Practically8）invisible，theyseemtobeapatchofem

6、ptyspaceintheuniverse.　　Whenthetwoblackholescombined，ahugeamountofenergywasreleased.Thatenergywasreleasedintheformofgravitationalwaves.　　Justasarockdroppedintoapondgoeskerplunk9）andsendsripplesacrossthewater，gravitationalwavesspreadacrosstheuniverse.Inthecaseofthosetwob

7、lackholes，thewaveseventuallyreachedEarth，1.3billionlight-yearsfromtheirsource.　　Bythen，theripplesweresmallerthansmall.　　Howsmall？YoumayknowthatlivingthingsonEartharemadeupofcells，whichcanbeseenonlywithpowerfulmicroscopes.Inturn，thosecellsaremadeupofatoms，thebuildingbloc

8、ksof6matter.　　Atomsaresosmallthatwe'veonlyrecentlydevelopeddevicestoseethem.Butthenucleus10），orcenter，ofanatom