Showing posts with label oceanography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oceanography. Show all posts

Friday, November 18, 2011

Wave Interference

Anyone who as watched the surface of a swimming pool has observed wave interference. Wave interference occurs when two or more waves move through the same space at the same time. Unlike solid matter, waves move through each other. The principle of superposition describes the response of a medium being displaced by more than one wave.
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Buoyancy

Why do some things float and others sink? The first thing that comes to mind for many people is that it depends on how heavy an object is. While an object's weight, or more properly its mass* does play a role, it is not the only factor. If it were, we could not explain how a giant ocean liner floats while a small pebble sinks. Mass matters, but there is more to it.
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Friday, January 7, 2011

Types of waves

Every sound we hear, every photon of light that hits our eyes, the movement of grass blown by the wind and the regular beat of the tides are all examples of waves. They are all around us.  Visible, physical waves such as those we see when a rock is thrown into water are what many people think about when they first began to think about waves. These waves have distinct properties specific to their type but also exhibit characteristics in common with more abstract waves such as sound waves and light (electromagnetic) waves.