What happens when two speakers of a stereo are brought face to face? Why
When two speakers of a stereo are brought face to face, they can experience a phenomenon called sound cancellation or interference. This happens because when two sound waves meet, they interfere with each other, resulting in certain parts of the sound waves canceling each other out.
To understand why this happens, we need to know that sound is a series of compressions and rarefactions that travel through a medium, such as air. These compressions and rarefactions form a pattern of alternating high and low pressure regions that we perceive as sound.
When two speakers are brought face to face, they emit sound waves that are in phase with each other. This means that the compressions and rarefactions of both waves occur at the same time and at the same points in space. As a result, the waves reinforce each other, leading to a louder sound.
However, if the distance between the speakers is exactly half of the wavelength of the sound they produce, the sound waves will be completely out of phase. In this case, the compressions of one wave coincide with the rarefactions of the other wave, and vice versa, resulting in destructive interference. This causes the sound waves to cancel each other out, leading to a significant reduction in the overall volume.
In other words, when two speakers are brought face to face and positioned at the correct distance, the overlapping sound waves interfere in such a way that they cancel each other out, producing regions of silence or reduced sound intensity.
It is worth noting that the effect of sound cancellation or interference may vary depending on the specific frequencies and positioning of the speakers.