STANDING

WAVES
B Y: T O C K E C H A N TA L A N D R É A
INTRODUCTION

• Maybe you've noticed or maybe you haven't. Sometimes

when you vibrate a string, or cord, or chain, or cable it's
possible to get it to vibrate in a manner such that you're
generating a wave, but the wave doesn't propagate. It just
sits there vibrating up and down in place. Such a wave is
called a standing wave.
• Standing wave, also called stationary wave, is the
combination of two waves moving in opposite directions,
each having the same amplitude and frequency.  
• The phenomenon is the result of interference; that is, when
waves are superimposed, their energies are either added
together or canceled out. In the case of waves moving in
the same direction, interference produces a traveling wave.
• For oppositely moving waves, interference produces
an oscillating wave fixed in space.
HOW A STANDING WAVE IS FORMED
• Standing waves are formed by the superposition of two
travelling waves of the same frequency (with the same
amplitude) travelling in opposite directions.
• This is usually achieved by using a travelling wave and its
reflection, which will ensure that the frequency is exactly the
same.
• In a bounded medium, standing waves occur when
a wave with the correct wavelength meets its reflection. The
interference of these two waves produces a
resultant wave that does not appear to move. Standing
waves don't form under just any circumstances.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
THE NODE AND ANTINODE

• Standing waves have regions where the disturbance of the

wave is quite small, almost zero. These locations are
called nodes. Nodes are points of zero amplitude and
appear to be fixed.
• There are also regions where the disturbance is quite
intense, greater than anywhere else in the medium,
called antinodes. In other words, Antinodes are points on
a stationary wave that oscillate with maximum amplitude.
THE NODE AND ANTINODE CONT-
STANDING WAVES CONT-

• Standing waves require that energy should be fed into a

system at an appropriate frequency.  That is, when
the driving frequency applied to a system equals
its natural frequency. This condition is known
as resonance. Standing waves are always associated to
resonance.
• Resonance can be identified by a dramatic increase in
amplitude of the resultant vibrations.
• Any system in which standing waves can form has
numerous natural frequencies. The set of all possible
standing waves are known as the harmonics of a system.

• The simplest of the harmonics is called the fundamental

or first harmonic, and the harmonics above the
fundamental, especially in music theory, are sometimes
also called overtones.
ONE DIMENSION: TWO FIXED ENDS

• If a medium is bounded such that its opposite ends can be

considered fixed, nodes will then be found at the ends and
one antinode in the middle. This is half a wavelength.
• To make the next possible standing wave, place a node in
the center. We now have one whole wavelength.
• To make the third possible standing wave, divide the
length into thirds by adding another node. This gives us
one and a half wavelengths.
• It should become obvious that to continue all that is needed
is to keep adding nodes, dividing the medium into fourths,
then fifths, sixths, etc.
TWO FIXED ENDS
L =1/2λ
1ƒ
L =2/2λ
2ƒ
L =3/2λ
3ƒ
L =4/2λ
4ƒ
L =5/2λ
5ƒ
General Formula: n/2 λ
ONE DIMENSION: TWO FREE ENDS

• If a medium is bounded such that its opposite ends can be

considered free, antinodes will then be found at the ends.
The simplest standing wave that can form under these
circumstances has one node in the middle. This is half a
wavelength.
• https://physics.info/waves-standing/harmonics-2.svg
ONE DIRECTION: ONE FIXED END – ONE FREE END

• When the medium has one fixed end and one free end the
situation changes in an interesting way.
• A node will always form at the fixed end while an antinode
will always form at the free end.
•  The simplest standing wave that can form under these
circumstances is one-quarter wavelength long. i.e L=1/4 λ
• To make the next possible standing wave add both a node
and an antinode, dividing the drawing up into thirds. We now
have three-quarters of a wavelength.
• https://physics.info/waves-standing/harmonics-3.svg
ONE DIMESION (ALL COMBINED)