{"id":86947,"date":"2025-06-01T04:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T04:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=86947"},"modified":"2025-06-01T04:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T04:24:08","slug":"the-characteristics-of-gravitational-waves-that-make-them-difficult-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/the-characteristics-of-gravitational-waves-that-make-them-difficult-to\/","title":{"rendered":"The characteristics of gravitational waves that make them difficult to"},"content":{"rendered":"

The characteristics of gravitational waves that make them difficult to detect are<\/p>\n

[amp_mcq option1=”long wavelength and high energy” option2=”long wavelength and low energy” option3=”short wavelength and high energy” option4=”short wavelength and low energy” correct=”option2″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n
UPSC Geoscientist – 2022<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Download PDF<\/a>Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nGravitational waves are difficult to detect primarily because they interact very weakly with matter, resulting in incredibly small amplitudes (strains) by the time they reach detectors on Earth. This weak interaction is associated with low energy flux at large distances from the source. The relevant wavelengths for detectable sources are often quite long (hundreds to thousands of kilometers for ground-based detectors, much longer for proposed space-based detectors), which necessitates very large and sensitive instruments like interferometers.
\n<\/section>\n
\nThe difficulty in detecting gravitational waves stems from their weak coupling to matter. This means they cause only tiny distortions (strains) in spacetime as they pass through. Even waves from catastrophic events like black hole mergers result in strains of only about 10\u207b\u00b2\u00b9 to 10\u207b\u00b2\u00b2. Detecting such minuscule changes requires extraordinarily sensitive instruments, isolated from environmental noise. The energy carried by the waves, while immense near the source, spreads out over vast cosmic distances, leading to extremely low energy flux at the detector.
\n<\/section>\n
\nGround-based detectors like LIGO and Virgo use interferometry to measure these minute changes in length caused by a passing gravitational wave. Future space-based detectors like LISA are designed to detect lower-frequency gravitational waves with much longer wavelengths, originating from different types of sources. The “long wavelength and low energy (flux at detection)” combination accurately reflects the challenges in detecting these elusive ripples in spacetime.
\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The characteristics of gravitational waves that make them difficult to detect are [amp_mcq option1=”long wavelength and high energy” option2=”long wavelength and low energy” option3=”short wavelength and high energy” option4=”short wavelength and low energy” correct=”option2″] This question was previously asked in UPSC Geoscientist – 2022 Download PDFAttempt Online Gravitational waves are difficult to detect primarily because … <\/p>\n

Detailed SolutionThe characteristics of gravitational waves that make them difficult to<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1091],"tags":[1108,1128,1274],"class_list":["post-86947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-geoscientist","tag-1108","tag-physics","tag-wave-motion","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"\nThe characteristics of gravitational waves that make them difficult to<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gravitational waves are difficult to detect primarily because they interact very weakly with matter, resulting in incredibly small amplitudes (strains) by the time they reach detectors on Earth. This weak interaction is associated with low energy flux at large distances from the source. The relevant wavelengths for detectable sources are often quite long (hundreds to thousands of kilometers for ground-based detectors, much longer for proposed space-based detectors), which necessitates very large and sensitive instruments like interferometers. The difficulty in detecting gravitational waves stems from their weak coupling to matter. This means they cause only tiny distortions (strains) in spacetime as they pass through. Even waves from catastrophic events like black hole mergers result in strains of only about 10\u207b\u00b2\u00b9 to 10\u207b\u00b2\u00b2. Detecting such minuscule changes requires extraordinarily sensitive instruments, isolated from environmental noise. The energy carried by the waves, while immense near the source, spreads out over vast cosmic distances, leading to extremely low energy flux at the detector.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/the-characteristics-of-gravitational-waves-that-make-them-difficult-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The characteristics of gravitational waves that make them difficult to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gravitational waves are difficult to detect primarily because they interact very weakly with matter, resulting in incredibly small amplitudes (strains) by the time they reach detectors on Earth. This weak interaction is associated with low energy flux at large distances from the source. The relevant wavelengths for detectable sources are often quite long (hundreds to thousands of kilometers for ground-based detectors, much longer for proposed space-based detectors), which necessitates very large and sensitive instruments like interferometers. The difficulty in detecting gravitational waves stems from their weak coupling to matter. This means they cause only tiny distortions (strains) in spacetime as they pass through. Even waves from catastrophic events like black hole mergers result in strains of only about 10\u207b\u00b2\u00b9 to 10\u207b\u00b2\u00b2. Detecting such minuscule changes requires extraordinarily sensitive instruments, isolated from environmental noise. 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