Olin Lathrop wrote:

> Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
>> Yes, I agreed already to the source of this energy being the kinetic
>> energy of the rotation. The question is really whether the energy would
>> be conserved as kinetic energy if the float wasn't there, or if it
>> would get lost (as kinetic energy) anyway -- maybe at the coast line.
>> It seems to me that there's quite a bit of kinetic energy that gets
>> lost (as kinetic energy) at the coast lines...
> 
> Some of it of course does get dissipated, but I think a large chunk doesn't.
> However I can't think of how to substantiate this one way or another.

Hm... Imagine the earth without continents. The tidal wave would move
around the globe, once in 24 h (not quite, but that's not the issue here).
Now you have a continent right there in its way. 

This doesn't look like a good situation for ideal reflection -- which I
think would be necessary for not loosing substantial energy there.
Basically, what does not get reflected gets transformed in heat, I think.

Gerhard
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