A one-knot current may affect a boat as much as 30 knots of wind. What term describes this water movement?

A one-knot current may affect a boat as much as 30 knots of wind. What term describes this water movement?

• A. TIDE
• B. CURRENT
• C. WAVE
• D. SWELL

Answer: (B)

A current is the horizontal movement of seawater in a given direction. Even a small current, like one knot, can have a big effect on a boat because it adds or subtracts from the boat’s speed and keeps pushing it in a particular direction. The boat’s actual path is influenced by the combination of its speed through the water and the water’s movement, so a steady current can matter as much as a much stronger wind. Tide refers to the regular rise and fall of sea level due to gravitational forces, not a continuous horizontal flow. Waves and swell are energy moving across the surface that cause the water to move in circular or elliptical paths; they don’t produce a sustained push in one direction like a current does.

A current is the horizontal movement of seawater in a given direction. Even a small current, like one knot, can have a big effect on a boat because it adds or subtracts from the boat’s speed and keeps pushing it in a particular direction. The boat’s actual path is influenced by the combination of its speed through the water and the water’s movement, so a steady current can matter as much as a much stronger wind.

Tide refers to the regular rise and fall of sea level due to gravitational forces, not a continuous horizontal flow. Waves and swell are energy moving across the surface that cause the water to move in circular or elliptical paths; they don’t produce a sustained push in one direction like a current does.