What occurs during destructive interference?

During destructive interference, waves combine in such a way that their amplitudes partially or fully cancel each other out, leading to a resultant wave with a smaller amplitude than that of the individual waves. This phenomenon occurs when two or more waves overlap, specifically when a peak of one wave coincides with a trough of another wave, which effectively reduces the overall amplitude of the combined signal. In the case of complete destructive interference, the waves may cancel each other out entirely, resulting in a net amplitude of zero at that point.

This principle is crucial in understanding wave behavior in various contexts, such as sound waves, light waves, and water waves. It illustrates the fundamental nature of wave interactions and is utilized in applications like noise-canceling headphones and various types of acoustics.