×

Where does energy go in destructive interference?

I read about Young's double slit experiment. I find one thing difficult to comprehend.; What happens to the energy associated with the waves when two identical waves perfectly cance out each other? Typical answer i have obtained is : The energy just gets transfered to the point of constructive interference from the point of destructive interference. I have trouble in grasping this idea of " redistribution of energy." Please help.

4 years ago

MarkdownAppears as
*italics* or _italics_ italics
**bold** or __bold__ bold
- bulleted- list
• bulleted
• list
1. numbered2. list
1. numbered
2. list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1paragraph 2

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

[example link](https://brilliant.org)example link
> This is a quote
This is a quote
    # I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"
# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"
MathAppears as
Remember to wrap math in $$...$$ or $...$ to ensure proper formatting.
2 \times 3 $$2 \times 3$$
2^{34} $$2^{34}$$
a_{i-1} $$a_{i-1}$$
\frac{2}{3} $$\frac{2}{3}$$
\sqrt{2} $$\sqrt{2}$$
\sum_{i=1}^3 $$\sum_{i=1}^3$$
\sin \theta $$\sin \theta$$
\boxed{123} $$\boxed{123}$$

Sort by:

Think about it this way. If constructive interference means there is more energy, where did that energy come from? The energy that is no longer in a node for destructive interference is going into the anti-node of the constructive interference. This page describes it very well. Department of Physics - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

- 4 years ago