Why do some water bodies have WAVES while some don't?
Water bodies especially Oceans are never still unlike small Lakes, Rivers and Streams.
Waves are created by energy generated from the wind causing the water to move in a circular motion. When wind transfers energy into water, the friction between the air and water molecules causes the waves.
As the wind blows, a very slightly more vertical face is formed by the water which the wind can push against further to create a large wave.
If not obstructed or disturbed, waves can travel across the entire ocean basin.
The formation of a wave depends on the
- Wind speed,
- Wind time (how long can the wind maintain its speed) and
- Wind distance (how far can the wind travel)
Waves can also be caused by gravitational pull of the sun and the moon in this case a Tidal wave is formed.
To the main factor of why water bodies like streams don't have wave?
Water depth and area is the main factor of why some water bodies cannot produce waves. Formation of waves by wind requires greater depth
and wider area
which most streams and rivers lack.
REFERENCES:
https://www.quora.com/Why-there-are-no-waves-in-rivers-but-there-are-in-sea
https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/what-causes-waves.html
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/wavesinocean.html
Pixabay.com
Hi a-condor,
That's a nice topic of discourse you raised there.
Here's a little tip for you to get handy with: In your next steemSTEM post, try to make it a little longer with some added details, so as to make it more curation-worthy by steemSTEM curators.
Thanks and cheers
Ok @samminator.
Thanks for the tip, I'll see to making improvements in subsequent posts.