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Wave Direction and Wind

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On a rather cold and rainy day we observed that the wind was blowing from the NE and the waves were traveling in all directions. Why would this be?

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This solution explains why this statement is true: On a rather cold and rainy day we observed that the wind was blowing from the NE and the waves were traveling in all directions. Supplemented with articles on waves properties and refraction.

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In addition to the wind, other things, such as light and encountering barriers, effect the direction the waves travel.
Refraction of light by water:
When a light beam strikes a plane interface between two media having different optical properties part of it is reflected and part is transmitted. The transmitted beam is refracted, or bent away from the direction of the incident beam. To explain this phenomenon one must resort to the wave theory of light, wherein light is an electromagnetic disturbance consisting of mutually perpendicular oscillating electric and magnetic fields, both of which are perpendicular to the direction of propagation. The theory predicts that the incident, reflected, and refracted beams, as well as the normal to the interface, are all coplanar. When a wave crest reaches the surface of the water the oscillating electric field induces forced oscillations of the bound electrons in the water molecules. The electrons move back ...

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