The question is: when two waves interfere constructively or destructively, is there any gain or loss in energy?
The answer is that the total energy of the pair of waves remains the same because energy missing from zones of destrctive interference appears in zones of constructive interference.
However, if the standing wave has ONLY constructive of destructive interferance, what happens? The answer does not touch on that. Why is there no gain or loss in energy?
2007-09-30 10:05:31 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Interesting question. I think that the two sources would have to be collocated for there to be total reinforcement or cancellation, and that would be the same as saying that the same source would be emitting two waves that sum to twice the power or to zero power, which in turn would be saying it's outputting double the usual amount of power or none.
2007-10-02 16:50:32 · answer #1 · answered by kirchwey 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Destructive.
2016-05-17 12:42:46 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋