Maybe this description would make it easier for laypeople to understand. The ripple in space time can viewed like if you suddenly dropped a bowling ball onto a water bed, the sudden disturbance will create waves rippling outwards. The rubber box example with tennis balls listed here is one way. I just thought maybe if you view the photons as boats shot into the path of the waves no wave affects the speeding boats, like flat water, the boats come back at the same time. But if a wave affects one but not the other, the one boat will come back slightly slower, and the difference between the time it takes to get back is how we know a wave is affecting the boats(photons).
Really no different than knowing wind affects objects in it's path. Like a place kicker in the NFL tries for 3 points. No wind the ball goes right down the center. Lots of wind the ball gets blown off course. In the case of the photons the wave is bending the path of the photon causing it to come back slower than the other. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, bend that line, it takes more time to get get back to the original point.
Hopefully my layperson's example helps rather than hurts.
Really no different than knowing wind affects objects in it's path. Like a place kicker in the NFL tries for 3 points. No wind the ball goes right down the center. Lots of wind the ball gets blown off course. In the case of the photons the wave is bending the path of the photon causing it to come back slower than the other. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, bend that line, it takes more time to get get back to the original point.
Hopefully my layperson's example helps rather than hurts.
