Two waves interfere when they cross or overlap each other. If they are in phase (crests meeting crests and troughs meeting trough), constructive interference is said to occur resulting in a wave with larger amplitude.
If they are half of a wavelength out of phase (crests meeting troughs), destructive interference occurs resulting in the destruction of both waves.
The diagram below is called an interference pattern of two circular waves generated by two sources producing the waves periodically and in phase.
Wavelength, frequency and speed remain the same during and after interference. Constructive interference occurs at places where a wave crest meets another crest, or a trough meets another trough. Destructive interference occurs at places where a crest and a trough meet.
The regions marked with dotted curves are called antinodal lines where constructive interference takes place. The regions between two adjacent antinodal lines are called nodal lines where destructive interference occurs.
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