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[return to "Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?"]
1. steveb+2m[view] [source] 2020-04-26 21:59:18
>>qqqqqu+(OP)
The LIGO detector. I've never heard a logical explanation for it. If your explanation is that gravitational waves stretch and squash spacetime so light takes different amount of time to bounce from an emitter back to a measurer, then you don't have even a slight understanding of how it works. If your explanation doesn't involve higher spatial dimensions (not time) then you don't understand it. If you haven't even considered higher spatial dimensions when explaining LIGO then you shouldn't even try for the incorrect explanation above because you don't have any of the pieces of the puzzle.
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2. knzhou+cm[view] [source] 2020-04-26 22:00:14
>>steveb+2m
> If your explanation is that gravitational waves stretch and squash spacetime so light takes different amount of time to bounce from an emitter back to a measurer, then you don't have even a slight understanding of how it works.

Well, I'll bite. I'm a physicist and I understand LIGO. What's your alternative explanation?

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3. steveb+Bm[view] [source] 2020-04-26 22:04:12
>>knzhou+cm
I have no idea how it works, I don't have an explanation, I just know the one spouted by people doesn't make sense
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