Wave Tank
COSI's wave tank is a 14 foot tank filled with approximately 1,000 pounds of water. The tank has a sandy sloping beach at the bottom. Use a lever to control the height, frequency, and celerity of the wave, through the use of a wedge type wave generator.
Explore the Physics of Waves
| Learn what waves are, how they form, their structure, and how they affect sand and shore. Waves cause the sand to build up a beach along the small end opposite the wedge. Viewing the waves from the long sides of the tank shows how waves react underwater, rolling over approximately 150 pounds of clean, washed sand to produce ripples, sand bars, and a sloping beach. |
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A beach of sand and scaled models can be altered to add or take away seawalls, trees, houses, trenches, etc. This creates a sense of scale, which helps understand some of the issues faced by coastal engineers when dealing with hurricanes and other water-related storms. Boats and other objects can be added to the surface or within the water to show the physics of water movement in relation to waves.
| COSI would like to thank Dr. Diane Foster and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science at The Ohio State University for collaborating on this exhibit attraction. |
