Re: When a stone is thrown into water why do the ripples always appear to be concentric?

Hi Pragya,

Your stones may not be perfect spheres, but I’m guessing that they’re
either really small or have a roughly uniform cross-section. Try tossing in
a ruler or a pen (or a long thin stone) so that its long side hits the
water first. You’ll probably notice that the wave pattern isn’t so
circular. The rounder and smaller the rock, the more the disturbance caused
by throwing it in the pond looks like a point disturbance. On an
unobstructed pond surface, there’s no reason why the energy from a point
disturbance would radiate away in any particular direction. It therefore
radiates in all directions equally, creating concentric waves.

I hope this answers your question.

Cheers,
Tetjana