Making Waves

What happens when you give water a really good shake? You might expect splashing, spilling and general aquatic chaos - but under exactly the right conditions, something much stranger can happen... In this episode, Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain dive into the world of 'Faraday waves': amazing geometric patterns that, in certain circumstances, will appear on the surface of a vibrating liquid. They discover how the renowned physicist Michael Faraday accidentally discovered this remarkable phenomenon in the 19th Century; debate whether they could ever occur in a swimming pool; and find out what on earth alligators have to do with it. Along the way, the pair encounter eerie ‘square’ seas and learn about new ways satellites are helping us to understand the ocean’s wildest waves!If you have an everyday mystery for the team to investigate, contact them on curiouscases@bbc.co.uk.Contributors: Cédric Beaume - Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics at the University of Leeds Lucy Bricheno - Group Head of Coastal Ocean at Liverpool’s National Oceanography Centre Glynn Holt - Former Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Boston UniversityProducer: Lucy Taylor Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem A BBC Studios Production