BEAUTIFUL WAVES EVERYWHERE
Waves are the marvelous forms of energy. In physics, a wave is a disturbance that transfers energy through matter or space.
Our universe has “waves on strings,” acoustic waves, water waves, sound waves, and inertial waves. And, of course, we have brainwaves.
Whether they are formed by oscillations or vibrations, there are two main types of waves: mechanical waves and electromagnetic waves. Mechanical waves move through matter -- through gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas -- changing its shape. Electromagnetic waves -- radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays -- can travel through a vacuum.
A gentle ripple on a pond is a gravity wave. Moving across the spectrum of power, seismic waves move energy through the Earth as a result of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, magma movement, large landslides, and large man-made explosions./p>
When a wave moves faster than the local speed of sound in a fluid, it is a shock wave. Ultra powerful gravitational waves travel through space. They are a result of a vibration or movement in gravitational fields. Though they were predicted by Einstein in his theory of general relativity, they were observed for the first time in 2016.
And while science can explain them, we looked at musings of scientists and science enthusiasts as they ponder deeper implications of waves.
“If the universe sprung into existence and then expanded exponentially, you get gravitational waves traveling through space-time. These would fill the universe, a pattern of echoes of the inflation itself.”
-- Neil Turok
“Life is a wave, which in no two consecutive moments of its existence is composed of the same particles.”
-- John Tyndall
“To me the sea is a continual miracle; The fishes that swim–the rocks–the motion of the waves–the ships, with men in them, What stranger miracles are there?”
-- Walt Whitman
“Heredity is the general expression of the periodicity of organic life. All generations belong to a continuous succession of waves, in which every single one resembles its predecessors and its followers.”
-- Wilhelm His
“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.”
-- Henry Beston
“You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean.”
-- Alan Watts
“The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.”
-- Blaise Pascal
“If I say [electrons] behave like particles I give the wrong impression; also if I say they behave like waves. They behave in their own inimitable way, which technically could be called a quantum mechanical way. They behave in a way that is like nothing that you have seen before.”
-- Richard P. Feynman
“The wave is the signature of every experience of life. By understanding the nature of waves and their characteristics, and applying that understanding to our lives, we can navigate life with a little more grace.”
-- Jeffrey R. Anderson
“Light is a particle and a wave. This is hard to understand, how a thing can be two things at once. But a woman is also both a particle and a wave. She’s a wave when you see her reach down to pull a shell from the sea, and you feel her beauty pass through you like electrical current. She’s a particle when her hair brushes your face, and her hands push into yours.”
-- Ken Kalfus
Read more about Wow Waves all this week on BeautifulNow. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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- Photo: by tackyshack. “Bubbles to No Mask.”
- Photo: by NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. Zeta Ophiuchi, a massive star, makes waves. Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.
- Photo: by Bill Gracey. “Smoke Wave.”
- Photo: by loren chipman. “Beach Fishing at Sunset.” Morro Bay. California.
- Photo: by Tamara van Molken. “Green Wave.”
- Photo: by Brian Hathcock. “Waves.”
- Photo: by DAVID MELCHOR DIAZ. “Wave.”
- Photo: by Olivier Jeannin. “Waves and Leaf.”
- Photo: by amattox mattox. “Line Wave 1.”
- Photo: by S. D. “Mauritius.”
- Photo: by Walter A. Aue. “Petal Waves.”
- Photo: by Greg Allegretti. “NGC 6960. Western Veil Nebula.”
- Photo: by Claudia Gabriela Marques Vieira. “Treen waves.” Treen, United Kingdom.
- Photo: by Tom Kelly. “Boiling Skies.” Wasatch Mountains. Park City, Utah.