I'm confused when using these 2 words "wave superposition" and "wave interference" since their definition is very similar.
So, are these 2 term the same?
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1$\begingroup$ Yeah, more or less. $\endgroup$– DanielSankCommented Dec 23, 2014 at 20:34
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$\begingroup$ Effectively a duplicate of physics.stackexchange.com/questions/79992/… $\endgroup$– dmckee --- ex-moderator kittenCommented Dec 30, 2014 at 19:02
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3 Answers
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We say "superposition" when we talk about the adding of the amplitudes of two waves. Typically it is called "interference" when this adding results in an different waveform (for example, regions with no signal - like the fringes in Young's slits experiment). However really all interference is superposition, and all superposition is a form of interference.
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1$\begingroup$ Diffraction is also a form of interference. $\endgroup$– FlorisCommented Dec 23, 2014 at 23:10
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$\begingroup$ @Physicist137 Diffraction is the result of the influence of an edge on a wave. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 24, 2014 at 9:15
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Interference is an effect of superposition. If you add two waves of close amplitudes, the interference picture will be the strongest. If one of the waves is of a much smaller amplitude, the resulting wave will be that of the highest amplitude, practically with no interference effect.
answered Dec 23, 2014 at 21:14
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Diffraction is the result of the influence of an edge on a wave. Behind every edge an electromagnetic radiation forms a fringe pattern. This is an intensity distribution and is called the interference pattern. Behind two close together lying edges (a slit) both EM radiation and water waves form intensity distributions. The only difference is that the interference pattern for EM radiation is stationary and it is non-stationary for water waves.
A superposition is the summation of two interfering waves. In the special case of two planar water waves of the same frequency and amplitude both waves vanish completely, whose energy is converted into heat.
answered Dec 24, 2014 at 7:23