Do Meeting Water-Waves Penetrate or Rebound?
Jets from a perforated wall and the collision of concentric ripples (n, c, d)
Drawn in pen over earlier faint red-chalk sketches, this sheet studies water in motion. One drawing shows jets of water spurting from a perforated wall and rebounding, labelled b. In a second, Leonardo examines two systems of concentric waves and asks whether, when the growth of one ring meets the other, its wave penetrates the other's (n passing to c as n passes to d) or whether the two rebound at equal angles (c leaping to d, d rebounding to c). He calls it a fine and subtle proof.
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Jets of water from a perforated wall and their rebounds (b)
In pen over earlier indeterminate red-chalk drawings, Leonardo draws jets of water spurting from a perforated wall and the way they rebound, marking a point b.
Colliding concentric waves: penetration or equal-angle rebound (n, c, d)
Examining two systems of concentric waves, Leonardo asks whether, when the growth of one circle meets the growth of another, its wave penetrates the other's — n passing into c in the same time that n passes into d — or whether at their impact they rebound backward at equal angles, c entering n leaping to d and d striking n rebounding to c. He remarks that this is a fine and subtle proof.