Sea Waves

It’s hard to find the exact definition that easily to be understand by students about sea waves.

Sea Waves is a temporal variation in fluid velocity which is propagated through fluid medium. The speed of propagation of such disturbance relative to the fluid is known as the wave celerity.

Wave celerity (C) is equal to wave velocity(v) so the unit is m/s

It has 2 types of waves:

1. Translatory waves – the water particles associated with the waves are transported with the wave and most important use in river hydraulics

2. Oscillators waves – the particle of water do not actually travel with the wave but tend to oscillate about a mean position as the wave passes

There also transformation of waves:

REFRACTION

Refraction is the bending of waves because of varying water depths underneath. The part of a wave in shallow water moves slower than the part of a wave in deeper water. So when the depth under a wave crest varies along the crest, the wave bends.

An example of refraction is when waves approach a straight shoreline at an angle. The part of the wave crest closer to shore is in shallower water and moving slower than the part away from the shore in deeper water. The wave crest in deeper water catches up so that the wave crest tends to become parallel to the shore.

 

DIFFRACTION

Diffraction usually happens when waves encounter surface-piercing obstacle, such as a breakwater or an island