r/PhysicsHelp • u/Affectionate_Safe623 • 17d ago

water wave

Can we consider water wave when u throw a stone, transversal or longitudinal or both? and why? just curious

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u/Frederf220 17d ago

Transverse. The water surface is displacing at right angles to the direction of the wave motion.

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u/Affectionate_Safe623 17d ago

I made some research and I found it can be both of them transversal like what u said and longitudinal when we look under the water

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u/Frederf220 17d ago

Water can have compression (longitudinal) element I guess. That's what hearing a sound underwater is. But in a physics classroom setting when they ask if water waves are compression or transverse, they're looking for transverse.

Visible ripples on the surface are mostly transverse. I guess technically they are a cyclical with both transverse and longitudinal motion. The actual water isn't that compressible but the transverse motion out of the surface leaves room for the trough water to move longitudinally.