Constructive and destructive interference

[105707059]

What does constructive and destructive interference relate to in a broader context? How would be be tested on this concept?

[Vivek Chotai 2C]

Constructive and deconstructive interference were used to show that electrons actually had wavelike properties. When you shot two through a crystal, they produced different diffraction patterns, like ripples in the water. This is what led De Broglie to make his equation, and claim that at the quantum level, all matter has wavelike properties.

[Gabrielle Malte 2G]

If this concept were to be on the midterm, I think we believe we would just be tested on the conceptual aspect of the interference properties: constructive interference occurs when the peaks and/or troughs of two waves collide to create a wave with a larger amplitude, while destructive interference occurs when a peak of one wave and the trough of another collide to produce a wave with a smaller amplitude. There are sample questions for this topic on the pre/post-module assessments for the "Wave Properties of Electrons" audio visual module.