Standing Waves

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Section 7.9 Standing Waves

When two traveling waves with the same frequency and amplitude move past each other in opposite directions, they create what is known as a standing wave, such as the example shown below.

Figure 7.9.1. The superposition of two traveling waves creating a standing wave.

The term standing wave is used because, rather than traveling from side to side, the wave appears to stand in place, with some locations remaining always fixed (these are known as nodes) and other locations oscillating strongly (these are known as anti-nodes).

Exercises Activities

1.

In the image above, identify each node and anti-node. Is there a pattern to the nodes and anti-nodes?

References References

[1]

Animations courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Grad. Prog. Acoustics, Penn State. licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information see https://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/demos.html

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