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Physics Classroom is making strides to make our site accessible to everyone. Our site contains 6 navigation areas. The Primary, Secondary, and Page Level navigations have a screen reader version of their nav structure that allows using the left and right keys to navigate sibling navigation items, and up or down keys to navigate parent or child navigation items. The others can be navigated using tabs. The Primary Navigation handles the first 2 levels of site pages. The Secondary (which is not always available) handles the 3rd and 4th level of structure. The Page level navigation allows you to navigate the current page's headings quickly. The Header Navigation contains the Light/Dark Mode toggle, Search, Notifications and account login. The Breadcrumb Navigation contains the breadcrumb of the current page. If the current page has a breadcrumb, you can get to it by skipping to the content and tabbing in reverse (shift plus tab). The Footer Navigation contains links such as Privacy, Contact, about and terms. Some resources contain an Audio Player that can be activated by holding down the T key for 3 seconds, and then using K to pause and resume. While not every area of Physics Classroom is usable purely from keyboard and screen reader, we are committed to continue work on making this possible. If you have questions or need additional help, please use this link to contact us.

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Wave Interference

The Wave Interference Concept Builder targets student understanding of what interference is, of the distinction between constructive and destructive interference, and of how the principle of superposition can be used to determine the shape of the resultant wave (or wave sum) that results from the interference of two waves. There are 20 total questions organized into 10 different Question Groups and spread across three different activities. In Activity 1 - To Construct or To Destruct? - learners are given the shape of two interfering waves and must identify specified locations as being locations where constructive or destructive interference occurs. In Activity 2 - The Principle of Superposition - learners are presented with the shape of two interfering waves on top of a background grid and must determine the resulting displacement of the medium at three specified locations. In Activity 3 - Sum It Up - learners are presented with the pattern of two interfering waves and must determine the shape of the resultant. Use of this Concept Builder with our Task Tracker system allows teachers to track student progress.

Users are encouraged to open the Concept Builder and begin. There is no need for an activity sheet for this Concept Builder.

Learners and Instructors may also be interested in viewing the accompanying Notes page. Technical information, teaching suggestions, and related resources that complement this Interactive are provided on the View Notes.

We now offer a video tailored to this Concept Builder.

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