Videos of real water waves:

• Ripples around a rock 1 : small ( 0.5 MB ) ; medium ( 1.3 MB )

• Capillary waves in a creek 1 : medium ( 1.1 MB) ;

  • Capillary waves are caused when the surface tension force is about the same magnitude as the general forces on the water.

  • The general forces include gravity and waves propagating through the water that are generated by currents flowing around rocks.

  • Capillary waves are typically between 1 and 4 millimeters in size (wavelength), and conform to the shape of the object(s) which are causing the waves.

  • Because there are several rocks as wave sources, complex patterns emerge when the individual patterns crisscross their paths and interfere with each other.

• Capillary waves in a creek 2 : medium ( 1.1 MB) ;

• Capillary waves in a creek 3 : medium ( 1.0 MB) ;

• Ripples in a puddle 1 : medium ( 1.3 MB) ;

  • Complex ripple patterns are generated by splashing water drops into a small puddle.

  • The sunlight creates very distinctive visual patterns on the wave crests.

  • NetLogo cannot make graphics that have realistic lighting effects, but advanced graphics software is capable of these effects.

  • For software than can produce graphics as real as these videos, see Maya and OpenGL in the advanced topics section.

• Ripples in a puddle 2 : medium ( 2.1 MB) ;

• Droplets in a puddle 3 : large ( 4.7 MB) ;

• Still shots taken from videos:

  • Water ripples, interesting for the light reflection effects:

  • Water droplets, interesting for the sculptural qualities:

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