Final answer:
Wind creates waves through friction as it transfers energy to the water's surface. Storms contribute to larger waves due to their intense winds and broad impact area. Tides, created by gravitational pull, only play a minor role compared to the direct effect of wind on wave formation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Wind creates waves primarily through a mechanism of friction, where the movement of air in the form of wind transfers energy to the water's surface. Initially, as the wind blows over the smooth water, it causes small ripples to form. This process is a result of the wind's frictional drag on the water. As these ripples or waves gather energy, they grow in size. The more extended and stronger the wind blows over the ocean's surface, the more energy is transferred to the waves, causing them to grow larger. Storms, due to their intense winds and the wide area they cover, can generate massive waves. While tides also play a role in wave formation due to gravitational pull, they are more related to the regular rise and fall of sea levels and are not the primary drivers of wave formation through wind interaction.
Furthermore, the Coriolis effect can influence the movement of large-scale wave patterns, such as in the case of hurricanes, causing a deflection in the path of winds due to the Earth's rotation, but it does not create waves directly. Instead, ocean waves are considered orbital progressive waves, where water particles move in a circular path as waves pass, not caused by the Coriolis effect but rather by wind friction, as mentioned above.