Re: sound waves in water

["Richard F. Lyon" <DickLyon@xxxxxxx>]

I believe Tony is correct, but there are also 
sound waves "on" water, which have a transverse 
component, as in the water waves you mentioned. 
This is more like the kind of wave you find at 
the interface between fluid and membrane in the 
cochlea.

I think that any kind of vibration that 
propagates can be called sound; for a transverse 
component to propagate, you need something to 
provide a transverse restoring force.  For waves 
on water, gravity provides that; on the BM in the 
cochlea, the BM stiffness provides it.  In free 
water with no boundaries nearby, probably you 
just get compression waves.

Dick

At 6:22 PM -0500 1/13/11, Antonio Miller wrote:
> Sound waves in water are longitudinal (compression) waves.  The
> underlying physics is the same for air and water, just the material
> properties (and hence the speed of sound) of the two fluids are
> different.
>
> -Tony
>
> On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 5:46 PM, Sarah Hargus Ferguson
> <sarah.ferguson@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >  A student asked me a question the other day that¹s got me stumped:
> >
> >  Sound waves in air are longitudinal, and water waves have both transverse
> >  and longitudinal elements. But what about sound waves in water?