> But a gravitational wave has a longer reach than the force of gravity.
That can't be right - surely the gravitational field permeates the whole of space; and surely the wave and the force are the same thing?
That can't be right - surely the gravitational field permeates the whole of space; and surely the wave and the force are the same thing?
Nope. This is a common misconception.
The difference between gravitational waves and gravity is a little bit like the difference between electromagnetic waves (emitted by an accelerating charge) and the electrostatic force (caused by a net charge at rest).
It's not possible to detect the effect of a charge far away, but easy to detect the propagating electromagnetic wave (light, ratio, etc).