Q. What's most amazing about “the Wave,” where groups of cheering fans stand in unison and raise their arms, then sit down as the Wave circles round the stadium? The second most amazing thing?

A. First is the lively debate over who started it. Was it at the World Cup Soccer competition in 1986, making it the Mexican wave (“La Ola”)? Or at the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City, or a major league baseball game? Probably Mexico City is correct, says Timothy Gay in “Football Physics.” Second most amazing is that three Hungarian researchers actually studied Waves at 14 soccer stadiums holding 50,000-plus people. They found the Waves generally travel clockwise at 12 meters (20 seats) per second and are 6-12 meters (15 seats) wide. It takes no more than a few dozen participants to get a Wave going. (“Science News”) Why a Wave, anyway? Boredom with the event is part of it. The clockwise direction may be because fans respond sooner to standers to the right, possibly perceptual or simply tradition, says Gay. One fascinating variable, akin to physical sound waves, is that warmer temperatures speed things up. “If the fans are really cold and bundled up in big heavy overcoats, they're going to find it harder to jump up when the Wave comes at them.” Yet while “absolute zero” (491 below zero) will stop a sound wave, it's more like minus 40 for the human Wave. “Would you want to do the Wave at 40 below?”

 
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