Standing waves

Basics of standing waves, nodes, antinodes, boundary conditions (fixed or free ends). For more related figures, please have a look at the “waves” tag, and the Music category.

Interference

Standing wave

Two fixed ends

One fixed, on free end

Edit and compile if you like:

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% Author: Izaak Neutelings (December 2020)
\documentclass[border=3pt,tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{etoolbox} % ifthen
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta} % for arrow size
\tikzset{>=latex} % for LaTeX arrow head
\colorlet{xcol}{blue!70!black}
\colorlet{vcol}{green!60!black}
\colorlet{myred}{red!80!black}
\colorlet{myblue}{blue!80!black}
\colorlet{mypurple}{blue!50!red!80}
\colorlet{metalcol}{blue!25!black!30!white}
\tikzstyle{vvec}=[->,vcol,very thick,line cap=round]
\tikzstyle{node}=[xcol,scale=0.8]
\tikzstyle{metal}=[draw=metalcol!10!black,rounded corners=0.1,
  top color=metalcol,bottom color=metalcol!80!black,shading angle=10]
\tikzstyle{ring}=[metalcol!20!black,double=metalcol!70!black,double distance=1.2,line width=0.3]
\tikzstyle{rope}=[brown!20!black,double=brown!70!black,
  double distance=1.2,line width=0.6] %very thick,line cap=round
\tikzstyle{wood}=[draw=brown!80!black,rounded corners=0.1,
  top color=brown!80,bottom color=brown!80!black!80,shading angle=10]
\def\tick#1#2{\draw[thick] (#1) ++ (#2:0.1) --++ (#2-180:0.2)}
\tikzstyle{myarr}=[-{Latex[length=3,width=2]},vcol!40]
\tikzstyle{mydoublearr}=[{Latex[length=3,width=2]}-{Latex[length=3,width=2]},vcol!40]
\begin{document}
% SUM TRAVELING WAVE = STANDING WAVE
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \def\xmax{3.5}
  \def\ymax{0.80}
  \def\A{0.50}      % amplitude
  \def\lam{1.7}     % wavelength
  \def\s{1.5*\xmax} % shift
  
  % RIGHT-TRAVELING
  \draw[->,thick] (-0.2*\ymax,0) -- (0.4+\xmax,0) node[right=4,below left=1] {$x$};
  \draw[->,thick] (0,-\ymax) -- (0,1.1*\ymax) node[below=2,above left=-3] {$y$};
  \tick{0,\A}{0} node[scale=0.9,left=-1] {$A$};
 
 
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