Why do waves travel faster in deep water?

Answer 1

The depth of moving water does not determine how fast it travels. Certainly shallow water will travel faster than deep water for the same volume of water moving past a point per unit of time. And if you think about it, it will become clear. Let's look at water in a pipe and make a comparison. Two pipes of different diameter have water moving through them. And the same volume of water is moving through both pipes per unit of time. The water in the smaller pipe will have to travel faster to get the same volume of it past a point in a given time as the larger pipe. Said another way, the water moving through the larger pipe won't be flowing as fast as the water in the smaller pipe to get the same flow rate (gallons/minute, or other measure). The same logic applies to streams or rivers. What we generally see is that large rivers move slowly, but that's generally because the slopedown which they run is small compared to smaller tributaries higher up. This, that is, the issue with the slope or gradient down which water is moving, is a geological phenomenon. We often seem smaller streams or rivers moving more quickly than larger ones. But we cannot make a blanket statement that shallow water moves more quickly than deep water. It may, or may not, depending on the circumstances.

Answer 2

The depth of water affects the speed of these waves directly without having anything to do with the density of the water. The deeper the water, the faster the waves travel, and so waves will refract (change direction) when they enter deeper or shallower water at an angle.

gcse physicsninja .com/lessons/waves/water-waves-shallow-deep/

Answer 3

velocity= wavelength * frequency

deep water has a higher wavelength therefore velocity incerases