Tidal Bore
In today's Music and Quantum Mechanics lecture by Dr. Jim Gimzewski, I was introduced to tidal bores. Dr. Gimzewski described tidal bores as solitary waves that moved through space which really caught my attention. He also said that tidal bores often occurred during full moons, and I wanted to research more as to how and why tidal bores happen.
Tidal bores occur along the coast where a river goes into the ocean. Tidal bores are strong tides that essentially push against the river. For a tidal bore to occur, the river must be shallow and have a narrow outlet to the ocean/sea. However, the estuary must be wide and flat. Tidal bores occur when the flow of water from a river into the ocean reverses, and the tide then pushes water up against the river. The sudden change in depth causes a positive surge which then results in tidal bores.
Another main contributor to tidal bores is the gravitational pull of the sun and moon in relation to the force created by the earth's spin. The highest tides occur when the pull of the sun and moon are in line (at new and full moons).
In the lecture, Dr. Gimzewski also talked about John Scott Russell's Soliton Wave Re-creation, and I decided to look more into it. In 1834, Russell observed a boat that was being drawn by a pair of horses. Even when the boat stopped, Russell noticed that the bow wave continued forward at a great velocity. he described the bow wave as moving "at great velocity, assuming the form of a larger solitary elevation, a well-defined heap of water which continued its course along the channel apparently without change of form or diminution of speed". After his observation, he decided to build an experimental tank. It took many years before his observations and research "made a big hit". The soliton wave never broke, spread out, or lose strength, which was to technology's great advantage. The characteristics of the soliton wave made it ideal for fiber-optic communication networks where billions of solitons per second carried out information.
