All mysteries
Mystery #3Tier 2waves / water / energy

Why do ripples spread out in neat growing rings from a single dropped stone?

Drop one small stone into a still pond and watch. From the tiny splash, perfect circles grow outward, ring after ring, getting wider and wider until they fade. The stone touched the water in just one spot, so how does that one little plop turn into rings that reach right across the pond?

Neat concentric rings spreading outwards across the surface of still water from a single disturbance
Photo: Roger McLassus · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Your guess

Why do you think the rings keep spreading outwards from that one spot?

There's no single magic word to type, have a go in your own words, then reveal the answer to see how close you got.

Make a guess to unlock the hints and the answer.