This text considers waves the great unifying concept of physics. With minimal mathematics, it emphasizes the behavior common to phenomena such as earthquake waves, ocean waves, sound waves, and mechanical waves. Topics include velocity, vector and complex representation, energy and momentum, coupled modes, polarization, diffraction, and radiation. 1974 edition.

Any ocean lover knows the transformative power of the ocean wave and its perfect confluence of energy, water, and light. Waves offers a mesmerizing collection of photography that explores the many faces of the singular ocean wave, whether it is the quiet rush of a crystalline wavelet over tropical sand or the deadly slam of storm surf against Oregon cliffs. Former editor of Surfer magazine, Steve Hawk has selected photographs from New Zealand to Newfoundland, from Fiji to the Aleutians, and paired them with insightful ruminations on the science and poetry of waves. With work from world-renowned photographers such as Art Brewer, Jeff Divine, Wayne Levin, and Joel Meyerowitz, Waves will captivate all those with a passion for the sea.

Wave watchers around the world know that no two waves are the same. Yet each and every wave that rises, peaks, and crashes onto the beach is generated by a much larger force originating thousands of miles away. Surf journalist team Evan Slater and Peter Taras capture the essence of waves and the swells that produce them in this breathtaking collection of wave photography. Slater characterizes four distinct swells from different corners of the globe and traces their journeys throughout the year from storm to seashore. His reflective, informative essays amplify these powerful images of hundreds of waves frozen in time, beautiful, simple, universal, yet wholly unique—and the best thing to watch on the planet.

Excerpt from Report on Waves: Made to the Meetings of the British Association in 1842-43 The first of these subjects of inquiry is stated to have been to determine the varieties, phenomena and laws of waves, and the conditions which affect their genesis and propagation. It is this branch of the duty of the Committee which forms the subject of the present report. Ever since the date of that report, it has happened that the author of this has been so fully pre-occupied by inevitable duty, that it was not in his power to indulge much in the pleasures of scientific inquiry; and as the active part of the investigation necessarily devolved upon him, it was not practicable to continue the series of researches on the ample and systematic scale originally designed, so soon as he had anticipated, so that the former report has necessarily been left in a fragmentary state till now. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.