Abstract
WHEN water moving in a channel at constant velocity encounters an obstacle, say, a weir, retarding its motion, a stationary wave is formed called Bidone's wave after its first observer. The more gradual the change in velocity, the less conspicuous becomes the wave. I have found no reference in literature to the fact that at very low velocities the gravity wave is reduced to a capillary wave appearing like a very fine thread or hair floating on the surface. The phenomenon is strikingly revealed as a moving reflection or refraction image when bright sunshine falls on to the bottom of the channel (see Fig. 1, taken in 1932, at a point where a brook discharges into the Lake of Lunz, Lower Austria).
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SCHMIDT, W. Cause of Oil Patches on Water Surfaces. Nature 137, 777 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137777a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137777a0
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