I have had a question since childhood. Why do we always get circular waves (ripples) in water even when we throw irregularly shaped object in it?
Water Waves – Are Waves in Water Always Circular?
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I have had a question since childhood. Why do we always get circular waves (ripples) in water even when we throw irregularly shaped object in it?
Best Answer
Actually the ripples are not circular at all. See photo below.
For example, a long stick will generate a straight water front on from its sides and circular waves from its edges. Something similar to a rectangle where the two short sides are replaced by semi-circles.
As the waves spread, the straight front will retain its length, whereas the circular sides will grow in bigger and bigger circles, hence the impression that on a large body of water the waves end up being circular - they are not, but very close.
The reason that an irregular object generates "circular" ripples is therefore this: as the waves propagate, the irregularities are maintained but spread across a larger and larger circular wave front.
A very good example of this phenomenon is the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) where electromagnetic waves from the Big Bang are measured after having spread for 13.7 billion years. Although the CMB is really, really smooth - because of the "circular ripple" effect, if you like, we can still measure small irregularities, which we think are due to the "irregular shape" of the Big Bang at a certain time.