Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Measurements of Waves in a Wind-wave Tank Under Steady and Time-varying Wind Forcing
Published on: February 13, 2018
Onset of wave drag due to generation of capillary-gravity waves by a moving object as a critical phenomenon
1Department of Physics of Complex Systems, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Abstract:
The onset of the wave resistance, via generation of capillary-gravity waves of a small object moving with velocity V, is investigated experimentally. Because of the existence of a minimum phase velocity V(c) for surface waves, the problem is similar to the generation of rotons in superfluid helium near their minimum. In both cases waves or rotons are produced at V>V(c) due to Cherenkov radiation. We find that the transition to the wave drag state is continuous: in the vicinity of the bifurcation the wave resistance force is proportional to sqrt[V-V(c)] for various fluids.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Types of Damping
Velocity and Acceleration of a Wave
The velocity of the particles can be obtained by taking the partial derivative of the position equation with respect to time. We can...
Propagation of Waves
Consider a scenario where a wave propagates from a string of low linear mass density to a string of high linear mass density. In such a case, the reflected wave is out of phase with respect to the incident wave, however the...
Shock Waves
When the source's speed approaches the speed of sound, constructive interference between successive wavefronts emitted by the source occurs immediately behind it. Initially, scientists believed that this constructive interference would result in such high pressures...
Drag Force and Terminal Speed
Differential Equations: Problem Solving

