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The Question

(Submitted October 05, 2003)

If gravity is due to the warping, or curvature, of space, why do we need a "graviton" or a particle to carry the "force" of gravity?

The Answer

One of the big discoveries of the 20th century physics was that waves could be considered physically as particles and vice versa. For instance it has often been useful to consider electromagnetic waves as photons. This is why researchers are looking for particle behaviour from gravity. For more, see:

http://www.qmw.ac.uk/~zgap118/

Martin Still & Eric Winter
for NASA's "Ask an Astrophysicist"

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Last Updated: Thursday, 01-Dec-2005 13:58:38 EST