ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Gravitational wave

Hey there little one! Do you know what waves are? You see them in the ocean, right? Waves are like ripples that move in water or air. They can carry energy from one place to another.

Now, let's talk about something called gravity. Gravity is the force that makes things fall to the ground, like when you drop a toy. Gravity comes from things that have mass, like planets and stars. It pulls objects towards each other.

A gravitational wave is a very special kind of wave that comes from really big and heavy things in space, like black holes or stars. When these objects move around, they create ripples in space-time. This is like the surface of a pond that ripples when you throw a rock into it.

Gravitational waves are very hard to detect because they are so tiny. They are like a tiny wave in a big ocean. However, scientists have created special machines called detectors that can sense these waves.

When a gravitational wave passes through these detectors, it creates a very small movement that can be measured. This movement can tell us a lot about the objects that created the wave, like how big they are or how they are moving.

So, to sum it up, a gravitational wave is a wave that comes from really big objects in space that move around. These waves are like ripples in space-time and can be detected by special machines. They can tell us a lot about the objects that created them.