[ExI] THE END for nuclear power

[Richard Loosemore]

Kelly Anderson wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 10:12 AM, Richard Loosemore <rpwl at lightlink.com> wrote:
>> Kelly Anderson wrote:
>>> On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 1:04 PM, Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> *reflected* back by the wall, it will build up behind it, because it is
>> travelling at 50 mph.
> 
> Just a dumb question here... but they say that the tsunami waves
> travel at mid ocean around 500 MPH. Why do they slow down so much when
> they go onto land? I get the bunching up and getting tall part, but
> why does it slow down 10x? Does anyone have a handle on that?

If the waves bunch up and get very tall, they have to also be travelling 
slower because otherwise there would be gain of energy and momentum en 
route.

The underlying cause of the slowdown is the decreasing depth of the 
water.  The wave motion is a composite o orbital motions of the water 
particles, down to a certain depth below the surface.  When the water is 
deep this orbital motion can occur freely, but as the sea bed comes up 
there is obstruction of that motion that has the net effect of slowing 
the wave.



Richard Loosemore