2

So Im reading this material on interference and I noted the following sentence :

During the interference of the light of two coherent light sources,the intensity of the radiation changes periodically from one point to another,alternating the maximums and the minimums of the interference.

This made me question .What is going to happen to the energy transmitted by the sources before and after the interference?

pfnuesel
  • 1,978
  • Related post: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/23930/what-happens-to-the-energy-when-waves-perfectly-cancel-each-other – Ellie Aug 21 '14 at 13:40

1 Answers1

4

The energy is conserved but it becomes "lumpy"- more in some places (directions), less in others. Total over all directions is the same.

Floris
  • 118,905