Standing Waves

Reflection causes destructive and constructive interference, leading to standing waves.

Standing Waves:

• created by the sum or right and left traveling waves:

  Figure: Damped Vibration, animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Penn State University.

• it is a pattern of alternating nodes and antinodes

  Figure: Damped Vibration, animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Penn State University.

• the fundamental mode of oscillation, is determined by the shortest node-antinode pattern.

Standing waves created from a fixed boundary:

Figure: animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Penn State University.

Standing waves created from a free boundary:

Figure: Damped Vibration, animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Penn State University.