C · SUPERPOSITION & REFLECTION
Draw a wave.
Two pulses. One string. Where does the energy go when the string becomes straight?
Pulse A · travels right
Drag to draw. The shape is smoothed before it travels.
Pulse B · travels left
Each pulse keeps its own identity as the waves superpose.
Opposite displacements can cancel. Watch the velocity arrows and energy at overlap.
The model & how to read it
An ideal, uniform, flexible string with constant tension, small slopes, no damping and no dispersion. Wave speed c = √(T/μ); length 12 m; linear density μ = 5 kg m⁻¹. The vertical displacement is enlarged visually. The reflected images give exact fixed- or free-end solutions.
u = uA + uB · K = ∫½μ(∂u/∂t)² dx · Eelastic = ∫½T(∂u/∂x)² dx
The arrows represent transverse string velocity, not wave travel direction. Arrow lengths are scaled for visibility. Energy is integrated numerically from the same displacement and velocity fields; small quadrature variation is numerical. Hand-drawn shapes are idealized initial conditions, not recorded experimental data.