r/Satisfyingasfuck 2d ago

Visualization of how tetrapods dissipate ocean waves

[removed] — view removed post

19.0k Upvotes

128 comments sorted by

2.3k

u/_felagund 2d ago

I have a secret fear of falling between those tetrapods

898

u/ActurusMajoris 2d ago

It’s not secret if you tell us

538

u/ActorMonkey 2d ago

Hey everybody! This guys afraid of tetrapods!

194

u/varegab 2d ago

Tetrapod sounds like some alien shit from Half Life, of course I'm afraid.

52

u/Deaffin 2d ago

Sounds like a four-legged crustacean to me. I was so ready so see some weird crab thing hunker down and show us how to weather some waves.

7

u/LordKlavier 1d ago

Same lol

20

u/scuac 2d ago

Have you watched Arrival? Those are Heptapods! Even worse

3

u/DefiantDaikon3321 2d ago

Lol that's EXACTLY what it sounds like!

1

u/HornyBrownLad 1d ago

Maybe don't listen to it? 

1

u/Goesonyournerves 15h ago

Tedrapods!Tedrapods!Tetrapods!

4

u/Stick-Electronic 2d ago

It's not fear if you like it

39

u/CockatooMullet 2d ago

Totally valid fear. I'm terrified when I see people climbing on them. Just don't.

95

u/Fragrant_Mountain_84 2d ago

Just stay away from them lol

22

u/IcedMangos 2d ago

This is my hole. It was made for me!

8

u/missinglinksman 2d ago

Is that a reference to that one weird japanese comic

20

u/username32768 2d ago

There's just one weird Japanese comic?

8

u/Deaffin 2d ago

There are an infinite variety of them, so you can always find the perfect one made just for you.


EDIT: Oh come on, how are you going to set up automod to block friggin imgur? That was going to have a hyperlink to the KOTH edit of the comic, and somebody out there was going to be so pleasantly surprised by the unexpected absurd twist to the absurd thing, and it really was going to be perfect for them. But we can't have that. They've been robbed of this moment.

Ugh. Just google "Junji Ito’s King of the Hole" if you're still curious after this, but the magical surprise factor is ruined.

8

u/thumper242 1d ago

I have been all the way to the end of the ‘South Jetty’ at the most NorthWest corner of Oregon. Not tetrapods but very large boulders.
I can say, without a doubt, falling between such types of objects is a valid and not at all irrational fear.

5

u/anotherdepressedpeep 2d ago

When I go in the city the coast(idk the proper word) is covered in these, and I get the call of the void when I look down at them. In some places they're much safer though and are easy to relax on them and then get off. It's quite cathartic.

3

u/SUNAWAN 1d ago

We'll keep it a secret after your fall

3

u/EarendiltheMariner7 2d ago

Heyyy love your username :)

3

u/_felagund 2d ago

Thanks buddy, I loved yours also.

1

u/harbinger-nz 2d ago

He's over here officer, the tetrapod guy, get em

1

u/Quiet_Contest_4755 2d ago

So do ducklings and goslings

757

u/69hornedscorpio 2d ago

Visuals are the best way to educate

275

u/Spitfire354 2d ago

That's what I said! But the principal wasn't happy about me taking LSD in school anyway

47

u/VirtualNaut 2d ago

Sounds like your principal is a hands on learner.

33

u/Spitfire354 2d ago

He sure is! Can't keep his hands off me to save his career

3

u/6sic6mkvz 1d ago

No wonder my linear equation answers didnt make sense

6

u/TattvaVaada 1d ago

That's what I told my teacher in school about sex ed as well, asked for some practicals.

1.2k

u/Gutokoro 2d ago

Now try with mangroves and coral reefs, they will do it better

444

u/VirtualNaut 2d ago

But can they survive the trash of man? );

114

u/SleepyMarijuanaut92 2d ago

Nope. Ocean acidification is tight! /s

34

u/CockatooMullet 2d ago

Acidification kills concrete too

37

u/SleepyMarijuanaut92 2d ago

It kills a lot of things believe it or not.

2

u/Here2BeeFunny 1d ago

But will it kill Roman concrete?

4

u/Tuffgong42 2d ago

I see I’m not the only one watching Pitch Meetings!

1

u/SleepyMarijuanaut92 2d ago

I learned about it in school

25

u/static_func 2d ago edited 2d ago

You know, these high schoolers and future engineers probably aren’t the ones to blame for that

30

u/cheesenotyours 2d ago

Aren't they limited to certain climates and regions? This video is in Japan.

20

u/Gutokoro 2d ago

Yes, not all climate can have these, but Japan has one of the most beautiful mangroves park and one of the most beautiful coral reef in the world. It is in the southern islands, more tropical climate

2

u/cheesenotyours 2d ago

I've been to Amami, and it def was beautiful. I wonder if Kyushu is south enough. These are probably used in the eastern and northern coasts.

18

u/Bhaaldukar 2d ago

Good luck getting those to live in the frigid water temperatures where I live

5

u/PCR12 2d ago

Mangroves and coral reefs do no good on freshwater lakes like the great lakes

1

u/LucasCBs 12h ago

You can’t just plant mangroves wherever

119

u/no_manches_guey 2d ago

Neat visualization! Dolosse have been around for a good while and help with coastal erosion

14

u/Extension_Ask_6954 2d ago

Yup, also know them as dolosse.

115

u/ronnie_reagans_ghost 2d ago

Is there anything triangles can't do?

8

u/Freakjob_003 2d ago

Ahem. Hexagons are the bestagons.

17

u/hbgoddard 2d ago

Tetra means 4

18

u/ronnie_reagans_ghost 2d ago

Indeed it does, but a tetrahedron, the shape that you'd (roughly) get if you filled in the empty space between the points of a tetrapod, has 4 triangular faces, hence why a tetrahedron is also called a triangular pyramid. It is a 3-dimensional arrangement of triangles.

-9

u/hbgoddard 2d ago

These tetrapods aren't triangular at all, though. Did you watch the video?

9

u/jumzish94 2d ago

They said to fill in the empty spots between the points, though. Did you read their comment?

-3

u/hbgoddard 1d ago

Yes, and you're saying that it sill has fuck all to do with the video.

1

u/SedatedCowboy 1d ago

Square dance

43

u/douggie84 2d ago

God damn I love the science fair

40

u/randomNumBear 2d ago

A South African invention! Very cool

7

u/phygal 2d ago

I was looking for this comment!

2

u/Celastii 16h ago

well, the first tetrapod was a French invention in 1950 and after that different types were invented, which include the dolos. The dolos was invented in 1963 in South africa. these systems uses two layers and nowadays we can create an one layered system (for example the Xblocks)

28

u/Valid-Nite 2d ago

Doesn’t the bin with the tetrapods have less room to build up force to make the wave though, or does it not matter?

12

u/Independent_Tie_4984 2d ago

My thought too

Seems like they'd have to extend the bin the same length of the tetrapods.

5

u/KanaHemmo 1d ago

Nope, there's the same amount of room in both bins. You can see those sort of pins on the sides which stop the "wavemaker"

7

u/Responsible-Hold8587 1d ago

There are pegs on the side that stop it at the same place for both bins.

1

u/unposted 1d ago

Doesn't the first bin have less water?

33

u/Ruri_Miyasaka 2d ago

Wouldn't they be able to stop the waves even more effectively by restraining the person who is pushing the thingy?

35

u/JoeyPsych 2d ago

Or you can just hire the Dutch, we are waterbenders

14

u/_Resnad_ 2d ago

Do yall also become blood benders on a full moon?

10

u/False-Ad273 2d ago

We don't talk about that...

11

u/digitalgoodtime 2d ago

Tetrapods are my favorite dinosaurs!

1

u/Top-Idea-1786 1d ago

that means every single dinosaur is your favorite lmao

Every land vertebrate in fact

20

u/gentlecuddler 2d ago

Is some of that difference not just through being able to push farther? Since the second example can go all the way, whereas the first example stops earlier.

8

u/Peepeeweeweman 2d ago

I think the main issue is they are being pushed manually. So they could push faster or slower. Even if they stop at the same spot, if one is pushed faster it will have more force.

It’s a good cheap demonstration, but for more accurate results the wave creating mechanism needs to be more controlled.

12

u/cheesenotyours 2d ago

There's a stopper on the sides of the containers that look like they're equal distance from the starting point.

2

u/brother_of_menelaus 2d ago

They clearly still dampen it but I agree, the runway for the waves should be the same length to show the actual difference against similar force/volume.

4

u/Hydr0flask 2d ago

Look at the stoppers. Exact same on each

5

u/brother_of_menelaus 2d ago

Didn’t see those before, oops

13

u/djayci 2d ago

Shame they look like shit. They’re all over, of course very useful but really ruin the coastline

17

u/NaibStilgar7 1d ago

Hot take, I love the look of a tetrapod. The geometry is very appealing to the lizard brain

8

u/Environmental-Law768 2d ago

This is a flawed demo. Wave maker does not have equal space to generate wave. The tub needs to be longer.

4

u/DullExamination1957 2d ago

If you put a second wall where the tetrapods start you would have the same effect, no?

4

u/steven4012 2d ago

Basically the same thing as urinal pads

3

u/Miserable-Session-35 2d ago

And exacly why we use Them for that

3

u/Cambrian__Implosion 2d ago

I saw the words ‘water’ and ‘tetrapods’ and clicked it half expecting a model of not-quite-fish hauling themselves up on ancient Devonian shores or something. In retrospect, that makes no sense in this context, but my brain was on autopilot doomscrolling mode and only processing the bare minimum of what I was reading.

I’ll admit I was a little disappointed that this ended up not being the case. Not because this isn’t very cool (it definitely is), but because I love nerding out over paleontology and I didn’t get to do that. Kind of like when your mind is occupied elsewhere and you take a sip of a drink that you expected to be seltzer, but it’s actually juice. Juice is awesome, but my brain was expecting those crisp carbonation bubbles instead.

More on topic: This is the kind of demonstration that I absolutely loved to do with my students when I was a science teacher. Unfortunately, the time and resources required meant that we didn’t get to make many and they were often super simple, but I had some more complex ones that were made outside of class time and they were easily some of the most effective teaching tools I had. It’s 100x better when the kids make them themselves, but you gotta make the most of what you have resources for.

3

u/ShowRunner89 2d ago

Wait until they find out what nature does

4

u/Cartergame 1d ago

This is why Banyan trees and wetland marshes are so good for the coastline.

2

u/apstevenso2 2d ago

...wouldn't anything with mass have the same effect?

2

u/Recent_Weather2228 2d ago

Caltrops of the sea

2

u/NeptuneTTT 1d ago

Same idea with mangroves

3

u/nuclearpiltdown 1d ago

Wow that showed... Very little.

2

u/Potential_Ad_5436 2d ago

Why they use baffles or baffle balls in a tanker truck

1

u/PLANTEandGrow 2d ago

I love seeing this, I was raised in Rota, Spain and these tetrapods bring back memories!

1

u/wolverineczech 2d ago

It almost works like a gun suppressor, gradually dissipating the energy, instead of delivering it all at once.

1

u/O_xPG 2d ago

Its like Disney Big Hero?

1

u/DocJawbone 2d ago

This isn't "how". This is just "they do".

1

u/Relevant-Welder7407 2d ago

Very common used / applied in the Netherlands

1

u/Educational-War-5107 2d ago

I have seen those on Google Maps. I did not know what they were for until I saw this video :P

1

u/Significant-Royal-37 2d ago

is there anything special about the shape or could a similar effect be achieved with literally anything else in the way

2

u/Pragmatic_decision 2d ago

From Wikipedia ("Dolos"): They work by dissipating, rather than blocking, the energy of waves. Their design deflects most wave action energy to the side, making them more difficult to dislodge than objects of a similar weight presenting a flat surface.

1

u/Accomplished1992 2d ago

This is how stealth technology works to reduce radar signatures of military aircraft

1

u/Brief_Obligation_822 2d ago

What about dolosse?

1

u/franslebin 2d ago

I thought tetrapods would be some sort of cool sea life, but they're just those breakwater things. What a disappointment

1

u/sandworming 2d ago

Those are gigantic tetrapods!

1

u/-Clean-Sky- 2d ago

Not good enough!

1

u/poundmyassbro 1d ago

I'm not saying these don't work, but this representation was shitty. Obviously, the one with more room to make a wave will make a bigger wave. They pushed the water a couple inches in the first tub, but double the amount of water being pushed in the 2nd tub.

1

u/Fattestcattes 1d ago

Thou hast now considered the tetrapod

1

u/truePHYSX 1d ago

I’m sure the wall was never part of the equation either. Smh

1

u/CurrentDay969 1d ago

They have these up in Duluth Superior area to break Lake Superior Waves. They works super well and many people climb all over. Fascinating to see the stark differences

1

u/MiSsiLeR81 1d ago

But the first tub has less water in it? So the lesser the chance of it reach over the wall?

1

u/Capable_Fox_00 1d ago

I would want to see other objects ability to block the waves, to see if it is due to the tetrapods themselves or just from having a large object blocking the wall

1

u/johnnycabb_ 1d ago

what is this? A WAVE FOR ANTS!?!

1

u/jeric13xd 22h ago

I thought the dudes were gonna get splashed w the second setup lol

1

u/kaka-mayka 19h ago

How is this satysfying as fuck?

1

u/NoDramaMama101 10h ago

Well done!

1

u/funcizd 5h ago

Where can I buy the guy on the rights shirt???

1

u/BadParking9912 2d ago

Or just MANGROVES

1

u/serpentechnoir 1d ago

Sand is billions of years of dead animals that cushion the erosion of the coast

0

u/Zealousideal_Yak7815 1d ago

Ummm...maybe one tiny mistake is that the piston should move the same distance as the other one? Otherwise the momentum is reduced?

0

u/PastaRunner 1d ago

There is significantly less water in the left basin.