Well, waves have amplitude and frequency. The latter is the distance between two crests. For water, you can use this: Speed in knots = 1.34 times the square root of the frequency in feet.
This is how fast a train of sea water waves can move. The formula is used in yacht design to find what is called, the "hump," i.e. the maximum speed of a displacement hull. You see, a ship pushes water ahead, and pulls it from the stern. As the ship speeds up, it sits in those two waves. This is how fast they can move. If there is enough engine power, the ship then climbs the bow wave and starts planning.
But the formula can be used for any other water displacement as it is a function of the mass and viscosity of the water. Now if a seismic tremor creates a wave of several miles of frequency (distance between each top) then you can imagine how fast it can move!
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They can travel many hundreds of miles an hour across the deep ocean. They slow down as the waters become shallow.
Well, waves have amplitude and frequency. The latter is the distance between two crests. For water, you can use this: Speed in knots = 1.34 times the square root of the frequency in feet.
This is how fast a train of sea water waves can move. The formula is used in yacht design to find what is called, the "hump," i.e. the maximum speed of a displacement hull. You see, a ship pushes water ahead, and pulls it from the stern. As the ship speeds up, it sits in those two waves. This is how fast they can move. If there is enough engine power, the ship then climbs the bow wave and starts planning.
But the formula can be used for any other water displacement as it is a function of the mass and viscosity of the water. Now if a seismic tremor creates a wave of several miles of frequency (distance between each top) then you can imagine how fast it can move!
Faster than a jet airplane.
Slower than a speeding bullet.