waves

[japan rocks/andromeda]

the waves have energy that makes them rise and fall from the wind is that all there is to it?????

[Athena]

the waves have energy that makes them rise and fall from the wind is that all there is to it?????

 

Well, the wind varies so the waves it generates varies. It depends on the speed of the wind and length of time it blows. This site explains waves, and the effects of wind, the magnetic pull of the moon and sun on the high and low tides, and how warm and cold water cause cureents.

 

http://www.virtualnjshore.com/tbwaves.html

[Mr Skeptic]

Well, the wind varies so the waves it generates varies. It depends on the speed of the wind and length of time it blows. This site explains waves, and the effects of wind, the magnetic pull of the moon and sun on the high and low tides, and how warm and cold water cause cureents.

 

http://www.virtualnj...om/tbwaves.html

 

The bolded is gravitational, not magnetic. Their magnetic fields are too weak and saltwater is not magnetic anyways.

[Mad Scientist]

Doesn't the fetch( the distance the waves have travelled) also have a part to play in wave energy and hieght.

[Athena]

Doesn't the fetch( the distance the waves have travelled) also have a part to play in wave energy and hieght.

 

 

Amazing what the right wod can do for understanding. Thanks for your comment. It is fetch that would make a tsunami wave so high, right? If nothing blocked the moverment of energy there would not be a huge wave. The energy would get spent going forward instead of upward, right?

 

Now I have to ask, do waves of light and sound behave like waves of water or a rope?

 

The bolded is gravitational, not magnetic. Their magnetic fields are too weak and saltwater is not magnetic anyways.

 

Okay, it seems to me plenty of times I have read magnetic when t should be gravitational. Is there a good way to define gravity? Hopefully, something that will stick in my weak brain, so I don't make the mistake again.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Athena

[Mr Skeptic]

Sure, gravity is based on mass, and magnetism on the movement of electric charge. Gravity can't cancel out and only adds up, whereas electromagnetism is far stronger but tends to cancel out if allowed to do so. This means that at large scales gravity will dominate, and at small scales electromagnetism will.