WAVE MOTION

WAVE MOTION

 

Currently I am learning about the waves. There are many types of waves: sound waves, heat waves, and light waves. While at the beach this weekend, I observed the waves there. Waves have two requirements: a medium to move through and an initial force. Ocean waves are mechanical waves, meaning there are vibrations in the medium. The medium of the ocean wave is the water, while the sources of initial forces are shakings in the Earth (which generate tsunamis), the friction of wind against water, or the passage of a boats, ships, etc. The overall medium, the water, stays in the same location. The ocean waves transfer energy. The larger the wave (bigger amplitude) the more energy that ocean wave carries. In the image below, the waves are barely noticeable. Those waves have little energy.

 

One way that physicists classify waves are by the relationship between their direction of travel, and direction of the motion's particles in the medium, in this case the water. The two categories are transverse and longitudinal waves. Transverse waves are when the particles of the medium move perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel. In contrast, the particles of longitudinal waves oscillate parallel to the direction the wave is traveling. Ocean waves consist of both longitudinal and transverse properties. The wave travels from deep waters to shore, or horizontally. The particles in the water move in circles, which proves that the particles has up and down, and side to side movement.

 

The image, which consists of sand displays longitudinal properties. Like in our homework problem, the "amber waves of grain" exhibit a longitudinal wave. The side to side oscillation of the grains is parallel to the motion of the wave.

 

Also in the image, you see that white wash or backwash. When two waves meet, they pass through each other. The passing through of the incoming and receding waves creates that backwash.

 

At Diamond Head: white wash and sand

From a higher viewpoint. Lots of white wash and waves