NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Question on currents and waves
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2009 Dec 18, 11:00 -0000
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2009 Dec 18, 11:00 -0000
Joe Shultz wrote- ===================== John, you can think of a wave as a rolling iceberg. The wave rolls and rolls as it travels and, just like an iceberg, at least half of the wave is underwater. Currents have depth, too, and currents will change the wave's rolling motion. At some point something has to give - the current isn't going give up so the wave has to change it's ways. That's the simple answer. ======================== Anyone who pictures a wave in that way will misunderstand wave motion completely. Although the profile of a wave travels, the water, from which it is constructed, does not. It goes round and round in a circle (or an ellipse) without travelling. Joe's picture of the interaction of wave and current is equally misleading. George. contact George Huxtable, at george@hux.me.uk or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. -- NavList message boards: www.fer3.com/arc Or post by email to: NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList+@fer3.com
