5.

2 Constructive and Destructive Interference

In the last section we discussed the fact that waves can move through each other,
which means that they can be in the same place at the same time. This is very different
from solid objects. Thus, we need to know how to handle this situation. As it turns
out, when waves are at the same place at the same time, the amplitudes of the waves
simply add together and this is really all we need to know! However, the
consequences of this are profound and sometimes startling.

To start exploring the implications of the statement above, let�s consider two waves
with the same frequency traveling in the same direction:

If we add these two waves together, point-by-point, we end up with a new wave that
looks pretty much like the original waves but its amplitude is larger. This situation,
where the resultant wave is bigger than either of the two original, is
called constructive interference. The waves are adding together to form a bigger wave.
You may be thinking that this is pretty obvious and natural � of course the sum of
two waves will be bigger than each wave on its own. However, carefully consider the
next situation, again where two waves with the same frequency are traveling in the
same direction:
Now what happens if we add these waves together? When the first wave is up, the
second wave is down and the two add to zero. When the first wave is down and the
second is up, they again add to zero. In fact, at all points the two waves exactly cancel
each other out and there is no wave left! This is the single most amazing aspect of
waves. The sum of two waves can be less than either wave, alone, and can even be
zero. This is called destructive interference.

When the peaks of the waves line up, there is constructive interference. Often, this is
describe by saying the waves are "in-phase". Although this phrase is not so important
for this course, it is so commonly used that I might use it without thinking and you
may hear it used in other settings. Similarly, when the peaks of one wave line up with
the valleys of the other, the waves are said to be "out-of-phase". Phase, itself, is an
important aspect of waves, but we will not use this concept in this course.

How could we observe this difference between constructive and destructive

interference. Given the fact that in one case we get a bigger (or louder) wave, and in
the other case we get nothing, there should be a pretty big difference between the two.
We will explore how to hear this difference in detail in Lab 7.

The most important requirement for interference is to have at least two waves. One
wave alone behaves just as we have been discussing. We shall see that there are many
ways to create a pair of waves to demonstrate interference. The simplest way to create
two sound waves is to use two speakers. If we place them side-by-side, point them in
the same direction and play the same frequency, we have just the situation described
above to produce constructive interference:
If we stand in front of the two speakers, we will hear a tone louder than the individual
speakers would produce. The two waves are in phase. Now imagine that we start
moving on of the speakers back:

At some point, the two waves will be out of phase � that is, the peaks of one line up
with the valleys of the other creating the conditions for destructive interference. If we
stand in front of the speakers right now, we will not hear anything! This must be
experienced to really appreciate. Equally as strange, if you now block one speaker, the
destructive interference goes away and you hear the unblocked speaker. In other
words, the sound gets louder as you block one speaker!

How far back must we move the speaker to go from constructive to destructive
interference? We know that the distance between peaks in a wave is equal to the
wavelength. If we look back at the first two figures in this section, we see that the
waves are shifted by half of a wavelength. So, in the example with the speakers, we
must move the speaker back by one half of a wavelength.

What happens if we keep moving the speaker back? At some point the peaks of the
two waves will again line up:

At this position, we will again have constructive interference! As the speaker is

moved back the waves alternate between constructive and destructive interference.

What the example of the speakers shows is that it is the separation of the two speakers
that determines whether there will be constructive or destructive interference. If the
speakers are at the same position, there will be constructive interference at all points
directly in front of the speaker. If the speakers are separated by half a wavelength,
then there is destructive interference, regardless of how far or close you are to the
speakers. However, it already has become apparent that this is not the whole story,
because if you keep moving the speaker you again can achieve constructive
interference. This can be fairly easily incorporated into our picture by saying that if
the separation of the speakers in a multiple of a wavelength then there will be
constructive interference. Note that zero separation can always be considered a
multiple of a wavelength.

What about destructive interference? We know that if the speakers are separated by
half a wavelength there is destructive interference. However, if we move an additional
full wavelength, we will still have destructive interference. So, this case is a bit hard
to state, but if the separation is equal to half a wavelength plus a multiple of a
wavelength, there will be destructive interference. Thus, we have described the
conditions under which we will have constructive and destructive interference for two
waves with the same frequency traveling in the same direction. Unfortunately, the
conditions have been expressed in a cumbersome way that is not easily applied to
more complex situations. So, before going on to other examples, we need a more
mathematically concise way of stating the conditions for constructive and destructive
interference.

The proper way to define the conditions for having constructive or destructive
interference requires knowing the distance from the observation point to the source of
each of the two waves. Since there must be two waves for interference to occur, there
are also two distances involved, R1 and R2. For two waves traveling in the same
direction, these two distances are as follows:

When we discussed interference above, it became apparent that it was the separation
between the two speakers that determined whether the interference was constructive
or destructive. From this diagram, we see that the separation is given by R 1 � R2. So,
really, it is the difference in path length from each source to the observer that
determines whether the interference is constructive or destructive. I emphasize this
point, because it is true in all situations involving interference. The only difficulty lies
in properly applying this concept.

With this more rigorous statement about interference, we can now right down
mathematically the conditions for interference:

Constructive interference:

We saw that when the two speakers are right next to each other, we have constructive
interference. However, if the speakers are next to each other, the distance from each to
the observer must be the same, which means that R 1 = R2. Or, we can write that
R1 - R2 = 0. I.e. the path difference must be equal to zero. But, we also saw that if we
move one speaker by a whole wavelength, we still have constructive interference.
Remember that we use the Greek letter  for wavelength. With this, our condition for
constructive interference can be written:

R1 � R2 = 0 + n .

Here, the variable n is used to specify an integer and can take on any value, as long as
it is an integer. This ensures that we only add whole numbers of wavelengths.

Destructive interference:

Once we have the condition for constructive interference, destructive interference is a

straightforward extension. The basic requirement for destructive interference is that
the two waves are shifted by half a wavelength. This means that the path difference
for the two waves must be: R1 � R2 =  /2. But, since we can always shift a wave by
one full wavelength, the full condition for destructive interference becomes:

R1 � R2 =  /2 + n .

Now that we have mathematical statements for the requirements for constructive and
destructive interference, we can apply them to a new situation and see what happens.

Waves with the same frequency traveling in opposite directions.

To create two waves traveling in opposite directions, we can take our two speakers
and point them at each other, as shown in the figure above. We again want to find the
conditions for constructive and destructive interference. As we have seen, the simplest
way to get constructive interference is for the distance from the observer to each
source to be equal. Using our mathematical terminology, we want R 1 � R2 = 0, or
R1 = R2. Looking at the figure above, we see that the point where the two paths are
equal is exactly midway between the two speakers (the point M in the figure). At this
point, there will be constructive interference, and the sound will be strong.

It makes sense to use the midpoint as a reference, as we know that we have

constructive interference. How far must we move our observer to get to destructive
interference? If we move to the left by an amount x, the distance R 1 increases by x and
the distance R2 decreases by x. If R1 increases and R2 decreases, the difference
between the two R1 � R2 increases by an amount 2x. So, at the point x, the path
difference is R1 � R2 = 2x. Now comes the tricky part. If 2x happens to be equal
to  /2, we have met the conditions for destructive interference. Therefore, if 2x
=  /2, or x =  /4, we have destructive interference. To put it another way, in the
situation above, if you move one quarter of a wavelength away from the midpoint,
you will find destructive interference and the sound will sound very weak, or you
might not hear anything at all.

What happens if we keep moving our observation point? If the path difference, 2x,
equal one whole wavelength, we will have constructive interference, 2x =  . Solving
for x, we have x =  /2. In other words, if we move by half a wavelength, we will
again have constructive interference and the sound will be loud.

As we keep moving the observation point, we will find that we keep going through
points of constructive and destructive interference. This is a bit more complicated than
the first example, where we had either constructive or destructive interference
regardless of where we listened. In this case, whether there is constructive or
destructive interference depends on where we are listening. However, the fundamental
conditions on the path difference are still the same.

What does this pattern of constructive and destructive interference look like? We can
map it out by indicating where we have constructive (x) and destructive (� )
interference:
What we see is a repeating pattern of constructive and destructive interference, and it
takes a distance of  /4 to get from one to the other. Where have we seen this pattern
before? At a point of constructive interference, the amplitude of the wave is large and
this is just like an antinode. At a point of destructive interference, the amplitude is
zero and this is like an node. So, if we think of the point above as antinodes and
nodes, we see that we have exactly the same pattern of nodes and antinodes as in a
standing wave. From this, we must conclude that two waves traveling in opposite
directions create a standing wave with the same frequency! You can get a more
intuitive understanding of this by looking at the Physlet entitled Superposition.

Translating the interference conditions into mathematical statements is an essential

part of physics and can be quite difficult at first. Moreover, a rather subtle distinction
was made that you might not have noticed. On the one hand, we have some physical
situation or geometry. This refers to the placement of the speakers and the position of
the observer. This really has nothing to do with waves and it simply depends on how
the problem was set up. Given a particular setup, you can always figure out the path
length from the observer to the two sources of the waves that are going to interference
and hence you can also find the path difference R 1 � R2.

On the other hand, completely independent of the geometry, there is a property of

waves called superposition that can lead to constructive or destructive interference.
We can express these conditions mathematically as:

R1 � R2 = 0 + n , for constructive interference, and

R1 � R2 =  /2 + n for destructive interference.

Again, R1 � R2 was determined from the geometry of the problem. These two aspects
must be understood separately: how to calculate the path difference and the conditions
determining the type of interference.

Only then should these to aspects be combined to determine whether there is

constructive or destructive interference at a particular location of the observer. This
can be summarized in a diagram, using waves traveling in opposite directions as an
example:
In the next sections, we will explore many more situations for seeing constructive and
destructive interference.