What happens when waves meet out of phase?

When waves meet out of phase, the peaks of one wave align with the troughs of another wave. This results in destructive interference, where the amplitudes of the waves effectively cancel each other out. As a consequence, the overall amplitude of the combined wave is reduced or can even result in complete cancellation if the waves are of equal amplitude.

Destructive interference illustrates how waves can interact in a way that diminishes their overall intensity. This principle plays a significant role in various applications, such as noise-canceling headphones, where sound waves are deliberately designed to be out of phase to reduce unwanted sounds.

In contrast, the scenario of waves amplifying each other occurs when they meet in phase, while creating standing waves pertains specifically to certain conditions within a confined medium. The combination of waves forming a new frequency generally involves non-linear interactions, which is not the case in standard destructive interference.