1

waves_02
SUPERPOSITION OF WAVES

• Two waves passing through the same region will

superimpose - e.g. the displacements simply add
• Two pulses travelling in opposite directions will pass
through each other unaffected
• While passing, the displacement is simply the sum of the
individual displacements

Animations courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Kettering University

CP 514
 2
waves_02: MINDMAP SUMMARY – SUPERPOSITION PRINCIPLE

Travelling waves, superposition principle, interference,

constructive interference, destructive interference, intermediate
interference, nodes, antinodes, phase, phase difference, in phase,
out of phase, path difference, two point interference, standing
waves on strings, standing waves in air columns, thin film
interference
Superposition (at time to)
y ( x, to )  y1 ( x, to )  y2 ( x, to )
Wave 1 + Wave 2

Constructive interference:  = m m = 0, 1, 2, 3, ...

 = m (2)

Destructive interference:  = (m + 1/2) 

 = (m + ½) (2)
14 15
 3
28
SUPERPOSITION
 INTERFERENCE
24

20

16

12

In phase  constructive interference 4

Out of phase 
destructive interference 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
CP 510
 4
Problem 1 Two sine waves travelling in the
same direction  Constructive
and Destructive Interference

Two sine waves travelling in

opposite directions  standing
wave
 5

Interference of two overlapping travelling waves depends on:

* relative phases of the two waves
* relative amplitudes of the two waves

fully constructive interference: if each wave reaches a max at the same time,
waves are in phase (phase difference between waves two waves  = 0)
greatest possible amplitude ( ymax1 + ymax2)

fully destructive interference: one wave reaches a max and the other a min at the
same time, waves are out phase (phase difference between two waves  = 
rad), lowest possible amplitude |ymax1 - ymax2|

intermediate interference: 0 < phase difference  <  rad

or  < phase difference  < 2

 6
SUPERPOSITION  INTERFERENCE

A phase difference of 2 rad corresponds to a shift of one

wavelength between two waves.

For m = 0, 1, 2, 3

fully constructive interference  phase difference = m 

fully destructive interference  phase difference = (m + ½) 

 7
SUPERPOSITION  INTERFERENCE
60 60

50 50

40 40

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
position position

A B
60

50

40

30

Which graph corresponds to 20

constructive, destructive and 10

intermediate interference ? 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
position

C
 8
SUPERPOSITION  INTERFERENCE

What do these pictures tell you ?

16 17 18 19 20 21
 9
Problem solving strategy: I S E E

Identity: What is the question asking (target variables) ?

What type of problem, relevant concepts, approach ?

Set up: Diagrams

Equations PRACTICE ONLY
Data (units)
Physical principals
MAKES PERMANENT

Execute: Answer question

Rearrange equations then substitute numbers

Evaluate: Check your answer – look at limiting cases

sensible ?
units ?
significant figures ?
 10
SUPERPOSITION  INTERFERENCE
In phase

 s2

Audio s1
oscillator
Out of phase

 Path difference  = |s2 - s1|

Phase difference  = 2 ( / )

CP 523
 11
Problem 2

Two small loudspeakers emit pure sinusoidal waves that are in

phase.
(a) What frequencies does a loud sound occur at a point P?
(b) What frequencies will the sound be very soft?
(vsound = 344 m.s-1).

2.00 m

3.50 m
P
2.50 m

CP 523
Solution 2
s1  2.02  3.52  4.03 m s2  2.52  3.52  4.30 m

Construction interference
v mv
= s2 -s1  m   m f  m  0,1,2,...
f 
= s2 -s1  4.30  4.03 m= 0.27 m
 344 
f   m  1274 m
 0.27   1.27 kHz, 2.55 kHz, 3.82 kHz, … , 19.1 kHz

Destructive interference

v (m  2 ) 1
= s2 -s1  (m  2)   (m  2)  f 
1 1 m  0,1,2,...
f 

 344 
f  m    1274  m  1 2   0.63 kHz, 1.91 kHz, 3.19 kHz,… , 19.7 kHz
1
2
 0.27 
 Problem 3
Two speakers placed 3.00 m apart are driven by the same oscillator.
A listener is originally at Point O, which is located 8.00 m from the
center of the line connecting the two speakers. The listener then walks
to point P, which is a perpendicular distance 0.350 m from O, before
reaching the first minimum in sound intensity. What is the frequency
of the oscillator? Take speed of sound in air to be 343 m.s-1.

r1  (8.00) 2  (1.15) 2 m  8.08 m

r2  (8.00) 2  (1.85) 2 m  8.21 m

1
r2  r1  (n  ) and n  0
2
v 343
  2(r2  r1 )  0.26 m f   Hz  1.3 103 Hz
 0.26
 14
FOURIER ANALYSIS

• A sinusoidal sound wave of frequency f is a pure tone

• A note played by an instrument is not a pure tone - its
wavefunction is not of sinusoidal form
• The wavefunction is a superposition (sum) of a sinusoidal
wavefunction at f (fundamental or 1st harmonic), plus one
at 2f (second harmonic or 1st overtone) plus one at 3f (third
harmonic or second overtone) etc, with progressively
decreasing amplitudes
• The harmonic waves with different frequencies which sum
to the final wave are called a Fourier series. Breaking up
the original wave into its sinusoidal components is called
Fourier analysis.

CP 521
 15
Superimpose  resultant (add)

Waveform

Fundamental 1st harmonic

waveform

1st overtone 2nd harmonic

2nd overtone 3rd harmonic

CP 521
 16
FOURIER ANALYSIS  any wave pattern can be decomposed
into a superposition of appropriate sinusoidal waves.

FOURIER SYNTHESIS  any wave pattern can be constructed

as a superposition of appropriate sinusoidal waves

An = A1 / n fn = n f1
Electronic Music ???

n
y   An sin(2  f n )
n 1

CP 521
Quality of Sound Timbre or tone color or tone quality

http://paws.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos/
superposition/superposition.html Frequency spectrum

noise

music

piano Harmonics

piano

Harmonics
Some of the animations are from the web site

http://paws.kettering.edu/~drussell/demos.html
 19
The Physics Teacher Vol 33, Feb 1995

INTERFERENCE PATTERNS AND

LANDING AIRCRAFT

Aircraft are guided in landing with the aid of the

interference pattern from two aerials A1 and A2
about 40 m apart. The aerials emit coherent waves
at 30 MHz. The wavelength is  = c / f = 10 m . The
lines of maximum signal strength are shown in the
diagram.

The number of lines emanating between the aerials depends upon the wavelength and the distance
between the aerials such that centre line corresponds to the central maximum. The plane should fly
along the line of the central maximum. If a plane flies along an adjacent (weaker) line of maximum
signal strength, the planes position can be in error by about 500 m. Aerials are also placed so a
vertical interference pattern is set up so that the height of the plane can be controlled to fly along this
central maximum.