Gravitational waves, which are ripples in space-time caused by the movements of massive objects like black holes, have been detected warping Earth by minuscule amounts. But what if these waves were strong enough to cause significant effects? In the podcast episode “Dead Planets Society,” hosts Chelsea Whyte and Leah Crane explore the possibility of creating gravitational waves powerful enough to be felt or even capable of ripping apart a planet. However, manipulating black holes, the densest objects in the universe and efficient gravitational wave generators, is no easy task.
Simply putting a pair of black holes next to a planet and smashing them together would result in the destruction of the planet due to the intense gravity of the black holes. Gravitational wave researcher Christopher Berry joins Chelsea and Leah on the podcast to discuss the idea of tuning the frequency of gravitational waves to vibrate the planet apart. They also consider the possibility of using gravitational waves to disassemble the entire solar system and explore creating a deadly black hole symphony that could transmit its cosmic music across the universe.
The Dead Planets Society podcast takes imaginative concepts for manipulating the cosmos and examines them through the lens of physics to determine their feasibility. Topics discussed in the podcast range from punching a hole in a planet to unifying the asteroid belt.
To listen to more episodes of Dead Planets Society, subscribe to New Scientist Weekly or visit their podcast page.
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