Question

When waves approach the shore, a series of changes takes place. One change is that the ____.

A)wave crest becomes peaked
B)wavelength increases
C)wave height decreases
D)wave velocity increases

Answer 1

The correct answer is that the wave crest becomes peaked due to shoaling, and as waves approach the shore, their wavelength decreases, and wave height increases.

Step-by-step explanation:

When waves approach the shore, the correct answer to what happens is that the wave crest becomes peaked, which is identified as shoaling.

When a wave moves into shallower water near the shore, its wavelength decreases and this causes the waves to slow down and increase in height, making the crests more peaked. This is due to the wave energy becoming compressed into a smaller volume of water.

Additionally, it's important to understand that as the period of a wave increases, its frequency decreases, because period and frequency are inversely related. Furthermore, the energy of a wave is related to its amplitude; an increase in amplitude results in an increase in wave energy.

Considering the behavior of waves when they move from one medium to another, such as from air into water, the wavelength of a wave generally decreases while its speed also decreases. This is exemplified by the case of light traveling from air into water.