Water Surface Tension

I think you should go inside to smoke that stuff!

There's no stupid questions, there is only stupid people.

You beat me to it.

Mike

"What he is observing is an indication and a very visible one, of a micro climate. Get an infra red sensing camera and it would help a lot do see what is going on. You could even find that the 'climate' around your hot cuppa can be made visible. Have one out side!"

On occasion, the clouds in a cup of hot coffee will demonstrate the micro-climate conditions. An infra-red camera is not required if the "evaporising" water condenses near the surface of the hot coffee. "Micro-breezes" will cause the visible small layer of condensate fog to swirl, move and change shapes.

On a side note, Readers' Digest used to state to learn new words you needed to repeat them several times after you first hear them. Today I am woring on "evaporising".

There are no stupid questions, there are only stupid people.

or

Ther're no stupid questions, there are only stupid people.

Some of us are just illiterate.

Re:

"Ther're no stupid questions"

I don't think GUEST is ready for contractions.

You are right, of course, it works too.

LL

S!

Good save on the grammar. You DO know, Yoda wasn't the originator of that quote, right?

Know that, I do not

The Dark Side I sense in you!

I prefer: There are no stupid questions; but there are many inquisitive idiots.

I think we need to learn Mr Lynlynch, so reserve the jokes for some other forum. Thanx.

"What you see is what you get. What you do not see gets you."

i think you are just seeing a mirage...

If you noticed it visually, a camera would too, so please post a picture.

Just to give you some landmarks for thought, if the planet is spinning about a north south axis, wouldnt we expect waves/motion to be eats west?

what is orienttion of drive way, sun (it apparently moves east to west)and puddle to reflected upon surface.

Your wind tunnel idea may be exactly that if wind is coming up the driveway north and south, thus creating the waves and hence what you notice in the reflections.

A picture is worth alot of words, and my compliment s to you for 1) observing; 2) NOTICING;3) thinking; 4) inquiring.

You may be a green horn, but you have shown the signs of critical thought process.

how bout that picture?

milo

Just wondering what west tastes like?

Chili, barbecue, roast beef...

Disturbence in the air because of water evaporising maybe?

That's cool! A new word! Evaporising - the visual effect, usually a shimmering wavy thing that can be observed rising above the surface of a liquid as it is evaporating!

Mike

Your just jealous of my creative skills with the Anglais Language

American English language is your "forte", which other languages do you know Mikerho?

Baiting me only proves you're being disingenuous.

If, on the outside chance you are being sincere, I know no other languages well, though I have dabbled in Greek, Latin and Yodaese.

Mike

The ripples would be more like ground vibrations from you walking up to the puddle, your dog happily jumping in front of you wanting to play, minor earth tremors that you cannot perceive, a very slight breeze of air running across the surface, the air pressure wave as you approach the puddle dispersing as it passes the puddle, a car/truck/train passing tot he north/south of your location?

These waves would be the same as what makes liquad mirror telescope mirrors problematic in suburban areas

Where's Ray?

CHONG: Who is it?
CHEECH: It's me, Ray. Open up, man, I got the stuff.
(More knocks)
CHONG: Who is it?
CHEECH: It's me, Ray, man. Open up, I got the stuff.
CHONG: Who?
CHEECH: It's, Ray, man. Open up, I think the cops saw me come in here.
(More knocks)
CHONG: Who is it?
CHEECH: It's, Ray, man. Will you open up, I got the stuff with me.
CHONG: Who?
CHEECH: Ray, man. Open up.
CHONG: Ray?
CHEECH: Yeah, Ray. C'mon, man, open up, I think the cops saw me.
CHONG: Ray's not here.
CHEECH: No, man, I'm Ray, man.
(Sharp knocks at the door)
CHEECH: Hey, c'mon, man.
CHONG: Who is it?
CHEECH: It's Ray, man. Will you open up? I got the stuff with me.
CHONG: Who?
CHEECH: Ray, man. Open up.
CHONG: Ray?
CHEECH: Yeah, Ray.
CHONG: Ray's not here.
CHEECH: What the hell? No, man, I am Ray, man. Will you...
(More knocks)
CHEECH: C'mon! Open up the door, will you? I got the stuff with me, I think the cops saw me.
CHONG: Who is it?
CHEECH: Oh, what the hell is it...c'mon. Open up the door! It's Ray!
CHONG: Who?
CHEECH: Ray! R-A-Y! Will you open up the goddam door!
CHONG: Ray?
CHEECH: Yeah, Ray!
CHONG: Ray?
CHEECH: Right, man. Ray. Now will you open up the door?
CHONG: Ray's not here.

All you people are cracking me up! A great sense of humor is a good sign of intelligence. But I have to comment on the subject a little more. Birds have been suspected to be able to see wind turbulences and thus use them to gain altitude when in flight. Food for thought.

I doubt that, they don't seem to notice the inlet turbulence on a jetliner turbine engine, i guess that like ants they can sense the difference in airpressure and act accordingly

That "cracks" me up!

"What about" Oh, NO, he stuck it in his eye man!"

Earache, my eye!

The slightest vibration causes minute ripples which diffuse the reflected light, giving the ripple effect.

In addition, evaporation gives a different air composition immediately above the water. This layer has a different refractive index to air. Slight movements of your head will appear to cause the light reflected off the nearby surface to appear to ripple. (It is impossible to hold you head still enough to avoid this)

Why it seems to be only N/S motion is probably related to the particular geometry of your location.

Glad you noticed and brought it to everyone's attention.

A few photos of the effect and the general location would be helpful.

Good comment and I will get a few photos.

"I am a greenhorn scientist ..."

We all start somewhere, no one should expect any one to know what "we" assume to be common sense. We should encourage people to be inquisitive!

I totally agree with sceptic and Snaketails that there is no such thing as perfectly flat water, certainly not in a suburban area. Talking about liquid mirror telescopes, even glass ripples due to its viscosity. You will see that if you look at very old windows. It probably is not so prevalent in the modern hardened glass but even there you might see some "flow" in time (?).

Why would the rotation of the Earth produce North - South wave motion? Perhaps you've discovered an elementary earthquake detector?

The inquiring mind is AWESOME. The serious comments were great. I totally loved the humor tho, and after a morning with a dead car battery I lMAO. Thanks for both sides of the spectrum. :-)

Just don't align any symbols that may be surrounding the puddle, or step into the puddle...it is likely a Star Gate.

He said he's a 'greenhorn'! Cut the guy some slack.

What you observed it's probably a microscale replica of what generates the waves in any larger body of water, the interaction of two fluids, water and air in motion.

Small puddle +Light wind+No depth=Ondulation.

Ocean size body of water+Fast wind+Depth=Storm size waves.

By the way, perfectly flat water is round ;)

GA

I like the "perfectly flat water is round"!

There are no flat spots on the globe, as viewed from space.

Now I've stopped laughing, are we sure it is just water???