Waves of Proof

January 16, 2012 | by Michelle Cuenco | Science

A wall of water surges up to the left, arches over, and cascades to the right of you. Following closely behind, a collapsing vortex of white water reminds you of the urgency with which you should travel. Yet, time seems to slow. Ecstasy arises within you. You savor this dream-like experience, if only for a moment, as the water keeps crashing down and forces you back to reality.

Riding a barrel is an experience that surfers say is indescribable. The power and elegance with which an ocean wave travels seems like it was perfectly designed to satisfy the hunger of the wave rider. Without waves, surfers could only paddle aimlessly on still water and enjoy the thrill of being shark bait.

However, waves are more than just a playground for surfers and beachgoers. The rolling mobility of the ocean reflects the intelligence of a Ceator in its design.

Consider the Man-made Wave

A man-made wave generator dumps 90,000 gallons of water into a pool to create a four-foot wave that travels 400 feet. One gallon is about 8 pounds. That means over ¾ of a million pounds of water are being moved. Consider further, that in order to replicate nature, wave scientists and engineers have been hard at work since the mid 1900s. Today, the bigger wave pools use three generators and use 100-300 horsepower pumps, a large underwater propeller, pipes, valves, struts, a hydraulic-cylinder piston, and a 2 million-gallon pool. The biggest man-made wave reaches a height of 12 feet.

While all this is impressive, it’s obvious that man’s re-creation of waves is inferior to what is actually found in nature. Natural waves are not only bigger, but they can also travel further. If it took years of planning and teams of scientists and engineers to create the artificial waves we have today, could the waves found in nature just happen by chance? Wouldn’t their design call for a designer, and a far more superior one than man, considering they’re on a larger and more powerful scale? Making a wave calls for precision. If it took thinking minds to compile the right tools to work in harmony to generate a wave, would not natural waves need the same masterful detail and design that can only come from a thinking mind? It takes 90,000 gallons being dumped into a wave pool to create a small wave, so how many gallons do you think are in a wave that’s 8, 16, 32 or 90 feet tall?

Detailed Design, Planned Purpose…

Waves are one of the finely tuned factors needed to sustain life on Earth. Exploring how waves work and why they are important reveals they were part of an intelligent design and didn’t evolve out of a big bang.

The science of how waves work is simple yet detailed. Waves are a great example of the law of conservation of energy in action. This law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it only gets transferred. The wind blows on the top of the calm waters of the ocean and creates surface tension.
Energy from the wind transfers into the water. The water molecules pushed by the wind push against the molecules next to them, and it creates a domino effect through the succeeding molecules. So, rather than actually moving the water, the water acts as a medium for energy to travel which results in a swell. A swell is basically a wave with a very long wavelength that can travel thousands of miles. In fact, some swells travel over 9,000 miles, that’s almost three lengths of the U.S! Photo: Jon Bowen http://www.flickr.com/photos/localsurfer/249946831/
As a swell gets closer to shore, it starts to “feel” the floor of the ocean, transferring some of its energy causing it to slow. The topography of the ocean floor determines what kind of wave will result. The steeper the ocean floor, the higher the water is forced upwards, and the slower the base of the wave.
Eventually, the top will overtake the base and the wave breaks forming surf.

Photo: Craig http://www.flickr.com/photos/prob1t/344722202/in/photostream/
Waves are important transporters of energy to various parts of the earth that helps to shape the coastlines and balance the planet’s temperatures. As waves break onto the shore they move sediments further up the beach.
However, larger waves over a long period of time erode the coastline, and as the water recedes back through undertows and rip currents, sediment is carried further from the shoreline. As this sediment builds up it creates an offshore bar. This causes waves to break sooner, putting a limit on how much coastal erosion is allowed to take place.
While this process occurs, the movement of the waves also aids the development of ocean life by stirring up the ocean floor, releasing nutrients that are otherwise “locked up”. Waves transport nutrients that are needed for the growth of larva of different marine creatures, and during calm periods nutrients settle back to the ocean floor and plants are then able to feed. Photo: Jenny Huang http://www.flickr.com/photos/diverslog/5835033750/
Not a fish? Waves are important to land-dwellers too. The wind-water surface relationship promotes the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen, which allows us to breathe.

It is obvious waves were engineered with intelligence and for a purpose. The great Creator took into account that the oceans would need to move, and He planned every detail of how that would be accomplished in order to sustain life. What amazes me is God not only made waves part of a system that supports the life for which they were created—but they also have allowed us to not only enjoy their beauty, but to experience the bliss of riding on water. Surfs up!

See for yourself how impressive waves can be in action. This video features Teahupoo, a surf spot on the southwest shore of Tahiti. Not only are Teahupoo waves 20 feet tall, they’re also so thick it looks like the whole ocean is behind them.

4 Comments

Luke Cuenco
January 17, 2012 at 11:34 am

Great article little sister! Keep on writing you’re getting better and better with each post!

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Kervin
January 17, 2012 at 12:42 pm

To your question in “How many gallons” it would take to reach 8-90ft. I’m no math genius so I’m going to throw a guess here. 1,440,000 . I’m probably wrong but hopefully It’s right .

I love surfing through the waters everyday, and I always had a curiosity of how these waves are come about or how it forms. I always new the moon wasn’t doing ALL the job and new there was more into it. Thanks for this great article,Michelle

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Ruth Stuart-Walker
January 18, 2012 at 3:53 pm

Awesome article Michelle. It’s amazing how if we just look at nature we can see God’s hands all over. The way that everything in nature, from our human bodies, to specific animals, it was all designed by God! The master architect and builder, he knew what he was doing, and yet mankind trys so hard to discredit creation.
Consider the sperm whale who dives to depths we have not yet achieved, and the camel, who’s nose was designed to cool it’s blood going to the brain so they don’t over heat in the desert.
Far from evolution…. just designed perfect… as he said in Genesis..
Thanks for sharing.
Love you.
your sister.

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Laskey_Hart
January 24, 2012 at 10:33 pm

Great job Michelle. Awesome article. It truly is amazing how the “little things” we so often take for granted are actually very complex and perfect. It is very amusing how we have spent so long trying to create man-made waves, when God’s perfectly tuned creation creates them in perfect rhythm with the moon driven tides! Thanks for the article, and for including Teahupoo:)

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