Quote Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube
That's pretty interesting. Alright, forgive my physics noob-ism once more:

Would it not be theoretically possible to fashion some device that harnesses that same force which causes tidal changes and whatnot into a conventional energy you could use to power computers and heat homes?
Gravity ? There have been some experiments to use the energy stored in gravitational fields, but afaik none were a real success. I remember seeing a report once about some guy claiming he had build an engine that worked by getting energy from the motion of the stars

Gravity is very important for energy storage though, the way we do it here, and I imagine in quite a few other places, is to pump water from a lower to a higher tank, and then later use the energy from letting the water come back down again.

Tidal wave energy generation exist, I believe they use it in some parts of Britain.

BTW Does anyone know at what speed gravity 'travels' ? Is it instantaneous or is it, like light, limited in speed ?