Amplitude and energy: Why size matters
What happens to waves in a really strong wind or hurricane?
Every wave can be described by its amplitude, wavelength and period.
So, as devastating as tsunamis are for both people and property,
their formation and actions are governed by physics.
The amount of energy carried by a wave is related to its amplitude.
High energy waves have large amplitudes and low energy waves
have smaller amplitudes. In other words, bigger waves have way
more energy than smaller waves – and tsunamis are BIG waves.
The energy (E) in a wave is actually proportional (α) to the square
of its amplitude (A).
E α A2
This means that every time the amplitude of a wave doubles, the
energy it contains actually increases 4 times.
So while an every day 1m wave has 1 unit, a large tsunami of 32m
has over 1000 times more energy. The largest tsunamis are about
30 meters high when they hit land.
Posted by Aneka Tips
on 17.04. Filed under