Submit your own photos of “visual physics”: email pictures to tpt@appstate.edu.
While hiking the bluffs above Crater Lake in Oregon, my grandson called my attention to two sets of evenly spaced “white bars” trailing an excursion boat far below us (see Fig. 1). To the naked eye, the details of the wave pattern were hidden, but fortunately I had a camera that included a telephoto zoom lens. Later, while examining several pictures, the “white bars” appeared to be primarily associated with the crests of the water waves along the edges of the pattern (see Fig. 2). Three white lines were visible behind the boat—two, possibly correlated with water jets—one on each side, and the middle could have been related to the propeller. However, to my surprise, additional features were revealed, one of which included an interference-like pattern (see Fig. 3).
I shared these pictures with Scott...