GART

Interference

Two radial waves meet. Their amplitudes add; lines trace equal values of the combined field. Move either source to reshape the drawing.

Interference: Two radial waves meet. Their amplitudes add; lines trace equal values of the combined field. Move either source to reshape the drawing.Interference: Two radial waves meet. Their amplitudes add; lines trace equal values of the combined field. Move either source to reshape the drawing.

About this pattern

Wave superposition · contour drawing

Interference, wave interference, drawn by GART: Two radial waves meet. Their amplitudes add; lines trace equal values of the combined field. Move either source to reshape the drawing.
Interference · CC BY 4.0

The field is a weighted sum of two radial sine waves. Phase shifts one wave relative to the other; balance changes its strength. The contour levels reveal the interference as line art. Source handles are editing controls and are never included in the SVG.

TopicsWave interference (opens in a new tab)Wave (opens in a new tab)

Behind the mathematics

Thomas Young1773–1829

Two-source interference, c. 1801

British polymath who in the early 1800s showed that light from two slits falls in bands, bright where its waves meet in step and dark where they cancel: interference.