Use the linearized boundary condition: evaluate at and discard products of perturbations. The kinematic boundary condition and Young–Laplace equation become
Incompressible flow and irrotational flow give the Laplace equation for each potential. For a normal mode, the wall conditions select
With , the kinematic conditions give and . Hence and . Substitution into the dynamic condition gives the finite-depth Rayleigh-Taylor dispersion relation:
Its denominator is positive. Assuming and , negative therefore produces a growing branch with , as in Rayleigh-Taylor instability.