For an inviscid flow of constant mass density and depth , impose excess pressure with on a free surface. Neglect surface tension. A travelling solution of the linearized free-surface boundary conditions is
The velocity potential satisfies the Laplace equation and the bed no-penetration boundary condition. Its surface time derivative is , so the dynamic condition gives the displayed signed response. The nonnegative amplitude is . It is finite except at
the squared phase speed of a free surface gravity wave at that wavenumber. Equality produces resonance. This describes a travelling forced component; free surface gravity waves must be added to meet general initial conditions. At exact resonance, a solution of the initial value problem generally grows with time rather than having a bounded periodic amplitude.
For a fixed impermeable sphere of radius and incident uniform flow , the velocity potential is the displayed expression and the Stokes streamfunction is . Differentiation gives and . Thus the no-penetration boundary condition holds, the poles are stagnation points, and the equatorial surface speed is . The disturbance is a potential dipole decaying as in velocity. The sphere theorem for a Stokes streamfunction constructs this solution from .