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Where does the energy go when there is destructive interference between two waves of light which are equal in amplitude?

As we know energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Then the energy embedded in these waves must convert or transfer to something but what it is?

DHRUV PATEL
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  • I would suspect that the energy goes into the regions of constructive interference. – Andréas Sundström Oct 24 '19 at 07:37
  • "destructive interference between two waves of light" - Two independent waves of light don't interfere. Only two parts of the same wave interfere - each photon interferes only with itself. Dark lines is where each photon decides not to go. No energy goes there, so your question is moot. – safesphere Oct 24 '19 at 07:56
  • @safesphere It's entirely possible that the OP was asking this question in the context of classical optics, in which case photons have basically nothing to do with the question. – probably_someone Oct 24 '19 at 13:07
  • @probably_someone Thinking that two waves of energy come to a point and then "cancel" each other is incorrect. In reality waves don't go there at all. To understand this, one needs to understand that two independent waves of light don't interfere. This is true for classical waves too, because independent waves are not coherent. Trying to understand light by limiting yourself to the classical view only is very hard and counterproductive, but not impossible. Quantum waves are the waves of probability, not the waves of energy, so this question is resolved automatically with a simple intuition. – safesphere Oct 24 '19 at 17:22

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