What happens to energy after destructive interference of two waves?

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SUMMARY

Destructive interference of two or more waves does not result in a loss of energy; instead, the energy is conserved. In the case of oppositely-moving overlapping waves, the location of destructive interference continues to move, maintaining kinetic energy despite having an instantaneous zero amplitude. This concept is thoroughly explored in N. Gauthier's paper titled "What happens to energy and momentum when two oppositely-moving wave pulses overlap," published in the American Journal of Physics, Volume 71, Page 787 in 2003.

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What happens with energy after two or more waves interfere destructively? Is there a loss of energy?

Thanks.
 
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Believe it or not, as the case for many seemingly-simple problem, the answer to this can be rather lengthy. For example, if you are talking about two oppositely-moving overlapping waves, then the energy conservation comes in because the location of destructive interference is still moving (i.e. it may have an instantaneous zero amplitude, but it still has a kinetic energy).

A very thorough discussion of this can be found in a paper written by N. Gauthier "What happens to energy and momentum when two oppositely-moving wave pulses overlap", Am. J. Phys. v.71, p.787 (2003).

Zz.
 

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