Boxi Learn › Physics › Stage 4 · Systems and Argument
Does the water travel with the wave?
PHY-4 Waves carry energy, not stuffPHY-2 Energy and momentum are conservedX-1 Guess, then check
What many people think
The water in an ocean wave travels along with the wave.
The idea
A wave moves a pattern and its energy along while each bit of the medium only moves back and forth or round a small loop in place; its speed is frequency times wavelength, v = fλ.
Explain it
A surfer waiting beyond the breaking waves rises and falls as swells pass. Why isn't she carried to the beach, and what changes once she catches a breaking wave?
Try at home
Float a bottle cap in a full bath or sink and make ripples at one end with a finger: does the cap travel to the other end? Then tie a ribbon to the middle of a rope or slinky and send a pulse along it.