# Two waves interference animation

I would like to plot (or to find) an animation where two waves at different frequencies, propagating with different velocities, sum together

$$w_1 (x,t) = \cos(\omega_1 t - k_1 x)\\w_2 (x,t) = \cos(\omega_2 t - k_2 x)$$

and generate the resulting signal

$$w(x,t) = \cos(\omega_1 t - k_1 x) + \cos(\omega_2 t - k_2 x)$$

An envelope and a carrier can be distinguished after some algebra and the animation should show the different propagation velocities of the envelope and the carrier.

1) Is there a site which already provides this? This page (last image) and this page provide different animations and are not suitabile. In fact, the first link (last image of the webpage) doesn't show $w_1$ and $w_2$ moving at different velocities, but just at the same velocity. The second link does never show the three waveforms $w_1$, $w_2$ and $w$ separately

2) Is there a free tool / software / site to generate such an animation?

## migrated from physics.stackexchange.comApr 3 '17 at 8:54

This question came from our site for active researchers, academics and students of physics.

• Would Mathematica be a better home for this question? – Qmechanic Apr 3 '17 at 8:50
• @Qmechanic My question was not directly asking for a document written with Mathematica, but just for an animation to show a physical phenomenon. The answer provided an excellent Mathematica work, but other answers (with other solutions) are certainly possible. Anyway, if you as a moderator thought this place is better than the original one, I'll adapt to your decision. – BowPark Apr 3 '17 at 9:02
• For the record, I think that migrating this here was unnecessary and against the formulation of the question, which has no mention of Mathematica and explicitly discourages answers from proprietary platforms. This was perfectly on-topic on physics.se. (CC @Qmechanic) – Emilio Pisanty Apr 3 '17 at 9:22