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Cloaking Technology Could Protect Offshore Rigs From Destructive Waves

Posted by samzenpus on from the almost-perfect-wave dept.

cylonlover writes "Recent years have seen much progress in the development of invisibility cloaks which bend light around an object so it can't be seen, but can the same principles be applied to ocean waves that are strong enough to smash steel and concrete? That's the aim of Reza Alam's underwater 'invisibility cloak.' The assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, recently outlined how to use variations of density in ocean water to cloak floating objects from dangerous surface waves."

2 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. The utility of math is fascinating... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Informative

    I am perpetually impressed by how useful mathematics derived from a few abstract axioms can actually be in modelling the real world. Further, it is always fascinating to see the strange overlaps where a single mathematical abstraction proves useful in the examination of two seemingly unrelated phenomena...

    It is apparently so; but the idea that waves made of seawater and 'waves' that function as models of certain aspects of the behavior of electromagnetic radiation is always deeply surprising.

  2. other way around by ssam · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oil rigs are pretty good at exploding on their own without huge waves. we need something to cloak the ocean (and the atmosphere) from from the effects of oil rigs. soviet russia you're our only hope.