On Oct 16, 8:17*am, "Szczepan Bialek" wrote:
*"Cecil Moore" ...
On Oct 14, 12:01 pm, "Szczepan Bialek" wrote:

Water molecules move mostly horizontally.
See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokes_drift
What percentage of water molecules are moving more horizontally than

vertically for what percentage of the time? That percentage is
certainly pretty small. Even for those normal steady-state waves, it
appears that the vertical motion at the surface is still greater than
the horizontal motion for at least half of the cycle.

Stokes measured the movements. They are shown thehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:De..._three_periods...

Each wave transports a mass. So the movements must be nonsymmetrical in in
direction of propagation.

*Anywhere except

at the very surface, the vertical motion is obviously greater than the
horizontal motion*. But the subject was a transient tsunami wave where
the horizontal motion is virtually non-existent because of inertia.

If the bottom of the ocean go up than the water is flowing outside this
place. It is a simple flow not a wave.
S*

water flow and water waves are NOT good analogs for electromagnetic
waves. the only common part is that some part of the solution of
their equations includes a sine or cosine function.