Interference of Waves

Boundary Behavior Reflection, Refraction, and Diffraction Interference of Waves The Doppler Effect

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The Doppler Effect

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Traveling Waves vs. Standing Waves

What happens when two waves meet while they travel through the same medium? What effect will the meeting of the waves have upon the appearance of the medium? Will the two waves ounce off each other upon meeting !much li"e two illiard alls would# or will the two waves pass through each other? These $uestions involving the meeting of two or more waves along the same medium pertain to the topic of wave interference% Wave interference is the phenomenon that occurs when two waves meet while traveling along the same medium% The interference of waves causes the medium to ta"e on a shape that results from the net effect of the two individual waves upon the particles of the medium% To egin our exploration of wave interference& consider two pulses of the same amplitude traveling in different directions along the same medium% Let's suppose that each displaced upward ( unit at its crest and has the shape of a sine wave% )s the sine pulses move towards each other& there will eventually e a moment in time when they are completely overlapped% )t that moment& the resulting shape of the medium would e an upward displaced sine pulse with an amplitude of * units% The diagrams elow depict the efore and during interference snapshots of the medium for two such pulses% The individual sine pulses are drawn in red and lue and the resulting displacement of the medium is drawn in green%

This type of interference is sometimes called constructive interference% Constructive interference is a type of interference that occurs at any location along the medium where the two interfering waves have a displacement in the same direction% In this case& oth waves have an upward displacement+ conse$uently& the medium has an upward displacement that is greater than the displacement of the two interfering pulses% ,onstructive interference is o served at any location where the two interfering waves are displaced upward% -ut it is also o served when oth interfering waves are displaced downward% This is shown in the diagram elow for two downward displaced pulses%

In this case& a sine pulse with a maximum displacement of .( unit !negative means a downward displacement# interferes with a sine pulse with a maximum displacement of .( unit% These two pulses are drawn in red and lue% The resulting shape of the medium is a sine pulse with a maximum displacement of .* units% Destructive interference is a type of interference that occurs at any location along the medium where the two interfering waves have a displacement in the opposite direction% /or instance& when a sine pulse with a maximum displacement of 0( unit meets a sine pulse with a maximum displacement of .( unit& destructive interference occurs% This is depicted in the diagram elow%

In the diagram a ove& the interfering pulses have the same maximum displacement ut in opposite directions% The result is that the two pulses completely destroy each other when they are completely overlapped% )t the instant of complete overlap& there is no resulting displacement of the particles of the medium% This 1destruction1 is not a permanent condition% In fact& to say that the two waves destroy each other can e partially misleading% When it is said that the two pulses destroy each other& what is meant is that when overlapped& the effect of one of the pulses on the displacement of a given particle of the medium is destroyed or canceled y the effect of the other pulse% 2ecall from Lesson ( that waves transport energy through a medium y means of each individual particle pulling upon its nearest neigh or% When two pulses with opposite displacements !i%e%& one pulse displaced up and the other down# meet at a given location& the upward pull of one pulse is alanced !canceled or destroyed# y the downward pull of the other pulse% 3nce the two pulses pass through each other& there is still an upward displaced pulse and a downward displaced pulse heading in the same direction that they were heading efore the interference% 4estructive interference leads to only a momentary condition in which the medium's displacement is less than the displacement of the largest.amplitude wave% The two interfering waves do not need to have e$ual amplitudes in opposite directions for destructive interference to occur% /or example& a pulse with a maximum displacement of 0( unit could meet a pulse with a maximum displacement of .* units% The resulting displacement of the medium during complete overlap is .( unit%

This is still destructive interference since the two interfering pulses have opposite displacements% In this case& the destructive nature of the interference does not lead to complete cancellation% Interestingly& the meeting of two waves along a medium does not alter the individual waves or even deviate them from their path% This only ecomes an astounding ehavior when it is compared to what happens when two illiard alls meet or two foot all players meet% -illiard alls might crash and ounce off each other and foot all players might crash and come to a stop% 5et two waves will meet& produce a net resulting shape of the medium& and then continue on doing what they were doing efore the interference%

The tas" of determining the shape of the resultant demands that the principle of superposition is applied% The principle of superposition is sometimes stated as follows: When two waves interfere, the resulting displacement of the medium at any location is the algebraic sum of the displacements of the individual waves at that same location. In the cases a ove& the summing the individual displacements for locations of complete overlap was made out to e an easy tas" . as easy as simple arithmetic: Displacement of Pulse 1 Displacement of Pulse 2 = Resulting Displacement 1 1 = 2 !1 !1 = !2 1 !1 = " 1 !2 = !1 In actuality& the tas" of determining the complete shape of the entire medium during interference demands that the principle of superposition e applied for every point !or nearly every point# along the medium% )s an example of the complexity of this tas"& consider the two interfering waves at the right% ) snapshot of the shape of each individual wave at a particular instant in time is shown% To determine the precise shape of the medium at this given instant in time& the principle of superposition must e applied to

several locations along the medium% ) short cut involves measuring the displacement from e$uili rium at a few strategic locations% Thus& approximately *6 locations have een pic"ed and la eled as )& -& ,& 4& etc% The actual displacement of each individual wave can e counted y measuring from the e$uili rium position up to the particular wave% )t position )& there is no displacement for either individual wave+ thus& the resulting displacement of the medium at position will e 6 units% )t position -& the smaller wave has a displacement of approximately (%7 units !indicated y the red dot#+ the larger wave has a displacement of approximately * units !indicated y the lue dot#% Thus& the resulting displacement of the medium will e approximately 8%7 units% )t position ,& the smaller wave has a displacement of approximately * units+ the larger wave has a displacement of approximately 7 units+ thus& the resulting displacement of the medium will e approximately 9 units% )t position 4& the smaller wave has a displacement of approximately (%7 units+ the larger wave has a displacement of approximately * units+ thus& the resulting displacement of the medium will e approximately 8%7 units% This process can e repeated for every position% When finished& a dot !done in green elow# can e mar"ed on the graph to note the displacement of the medium at each given location% The actual shape of the medium can then e s"etched y estimating the position etween the various mar"ed points and s"etching the wave% This is shown as the green line in the diagram elow%