Post created by Josh
Lately I’ve been obsessed with the thought of visiting Hawaii. I want to get out and experience new culture and I’ve heard so many great things about Hawaii, it’s at the top of my bucket list for places to visit. I also want to experience going to the beaches and seeing how beautiful they are and listen to the sound of the ocean waves crashing. There’s just something so peaceful about that thought. I just love the ocean, even though I can’t swim very well (LOL). Now this obsession with waves really got me thinking about how waves are created and the physics behind it. After pondering for some time I then realized we did a whole unit on waves that I low key forgot about.
So how are ocean waves formed exactly? They form mainly because of the interaction between wind and water. Other factors include tide, which results from the pull of the moon's gravity on the Earth, and factors that result in tsunamis and other types of waves. However we are only going to focus on the first main factor. To understand how they form, we must first understand what waves are exactly and the motion they take. Waves are energy moving through matter. If you looked at the cross-section of an idealized ocean wave, it would look like a transverse wave . The waves would move up and down, perpendicular to the left-to-right direction that the wave itself moves. However ocean waves are more complex as the water molecules move in a circular motion (up the wave, across its crest, down into its trough). Waves begin to form when wind hits the surface of the water causing its molecules to begin its orbital motion. The stronger the wind, the more energy transferred to the wind creating peaks and white caps in the water's surface. These white caps are frantic and move in random directions. The peaks of the wave provide the wind with more surface area to grab on to, which lets the wind force the water into even higher caps. The height and shape of the white caps comes from three primary factors, how long the wind blew over the water, how hard it blew, and the surface area of the ocean that the wind affected, or the fetch. It’s crazy to me how I never sat and truly pondered on the physics behind the shape of the wave and its motion and how energy is transferred from the wind to the water. There is such beauty in the world and physics can help shed light on how certain things occur.
https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/water-sports/surfing6.htm
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