Waves
Further information: Ocean surface wave and Airy wave theoryIf the free surface of a liquid is disturbed, waves are produced on the surface. These waves are not elastic waves due to any elastic force; they are gravity waves caused by the force of gravity tending to bring the surface of the disturbed liquid back to its horizontal level. Momentum causes the wave to overshoot, thus oscillating and spreading the disturbance to the neighboring portions of the surface. The velocity of the surface waves varies as the square root of the wavelength if the liquid is deep; therefore long waves on the sea go faster than short ones. Very minute waves or ripples are not due to gravity but to capillary action, and have properties different from those of the longer ocean surface waves, because the surface is increased in area by the ripples and the capillary forces are in this case large compared with the gravitational forces. Capillary ripples are damped both by sub-surface viscosity and by surface rheology
Read more about this topic: Free Surface
Famous quotes containing the word waves:
“The waves have now a redder glow—
The hours are breathing faint and low—
And when, amid no earthly moans,
Down, down that town shall settle hence,
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“And the waves sing because they are moving.
And the waves sing above a cemetery of waters.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“He says the waves in the ship’s wake
are like stones rolling away.
I don’t see it that way.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)