My friend linked this .gif to me tonight, and asked me if I knew of any equations that might model these bottom two waves (the blue and green waves). Unfortunately, I am not far enough in my education to recognize if any such model exists. Are these waves modeled after some equation, or is this just some piece of eye candy?


All can be modeled by some $2 \pi$ periodic function $r:\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$, then the equation is $t \mapsto r(t) \sin t$.
For the red wave, use $r(t) = 1$.
For the blue wave, use $r(t) = \sqrt{1+\sin^2t}$, for $t \in [-\frac{\pi}{4}, \frac{\pi}{4})$, and let $r$ by $\frac{\pi}{2}$ periodic.
For the green wave, use the same formula as for the blue wave, except for the domain $[-\frac{\pi}{6}, \frac{\pi}{6})$, and let $r$ by $\frac{\pi}{3}$ periodic.