surface waven.
/ˈsəːfᵻs ˌweɪv/, U.S. /ˈsərfəs ˌweɪv/ 1. A wave on the surface of water; (Science) a wave of displacements propagated along the surface of a liquid or a solid, or along an interface between them; (Seismology) a seismic wave that travels along the earth's surface (contrasted with body wave n. 1).Seismic surface waves are classified as either Love waves or Rayleigh waves.
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the world > matter > physics > mechanics > types of motion > [noun] > wave > types of wave
long wave1792
internal wave1804
stationary wave1833
solitary wave1838
standing wave1845
travelling wave1845
pressure wave1871
ripple1871
surface wave1887
sine wave1893
Rayleigh wave1903
shock wave1907
spherical wave1907
Love wave1924
bow shock1938
Rossby wave1951
soliton1965
1785 J. Anderson Acct. Present State Hebrides App. iii. 354 If they did not do so, but were forced along by the surface waves, it would happen, that whenever they approached the shore, they would be dashed upon the rocks.
1828 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 5 67 Flat-bottomed boats are so buoyant, that to superficial observers, who see them move with every surface wave, they appear dangerous craft.
1845 Rep. 14th Meeting Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1844 358 Common surface waves of the second order diffuse themselves equably in concentric circles round the point of disturbance.
1887 Ld. Rayleigh in Proc. London Math. Soc. 17 11 It is not improbable that the surface waves here investigated play an important part in earthquakes, and in the collision of elastic solids.
1900 Nature 4 Oct. 562/1 The earthquake wave takes about 110 minutes to travel from its origin to the opposite end of the earth's diameter, but whether it is propagated through the centre of the earth or as a surface wave cannot at present be decided.
1953 H. Kolsky Stress Waves in Solids ii. 16 Where there is a bounding surface..elastic surface waves may also occur. These waves..are similar to gravitational surface waves in liquids.
1959 Physical Rev. 113 962 Third sound is a surface wave of long wavelength on a liquid helium film.
1994 L. A. Graf Firestorm xv.166 If we get caught in this damned thixotropic mud when the surface waves get here.
2005 R. E. Newnham Properties of Materials xxiv. 265 In a Rayleigh surface-wave device, an interdigital transducer converts an electromagnetic signal to an elastic surface wave.
2. Radio. A radio wave that travels close to the surface of the earth, propagated chiefly by interaction with the surface.In quot. 1889: an electromagnetic wave conceived as travelling along the surface of a shock wave produced when an electric charge travels through a medium faster than the local speed of light.
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society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun] > radio wave > types of
space wave1899
surface wave1913
CW1920
beam1924
sky wave1924
ground wave1927
tweek1933
1889 O. Heaviside in Electrician 6 Sept. 458/2 This conclusion is confirmed by the failure of Prof. Thomson's proposed surface-wave to keep itself going.]
1913 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1912 403 His theory leads to the conclusion that there are not only space-waves (Raumwellen) in these media, but also surface-waves (Oberflächenwallen) at the boundary surface.
1943 F. E. Terman Radio Engineers' Handbk. x. 675 The surface wave..represents the whole of the ground wave when both transmitting and receiving antennas are located at the surface of the earth.
1971 K. Kent in C. Bonington Annapurna South Face 277 The near-link radios had to be h/f sets capable of voice/cw and able to utilize a sky-wave and surface-wave mode of operation.
2008 J. A. Richards Radio Wave Propagation iii. 38 Compute the range at which the sky wave will have about the same field strength as the surface wave.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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