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Azi9Intentions t1_j2cqk73 wrote

Imagine a wave of water coming towards you in a wave pool.

Ignore anything to do with things like currents under the water, etc.

If you slap the water as the other wave is coming your way, and make a wave the exact same size, shape, etc, but going the opposite way to the wave that's about to hit you, one stops the other.

Sound in air is much the same, it's just waves that you can't see. The headphones or earbuds with active noise cancellation, simply (or really, not so simply) detect other sounds, and play a sound that is the exact opposite, or close enough.

The waves hit each other, and the sound of both goes away!

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hunter_almighty t1_j2ezteh wrote

Just curious, has anyone ever done that with a giant wave pool? I couldn't find any on YouTube, but that would be an awesome visual demonstration

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Zosymandias t1_j2fnm15 wrote

There are wave pools where they test scale ships in. You can find demonstrations where they create quilt like patterns using this principle.

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Thneed1 t1_j2f5u18 wrote

Not so much an opposite wave going in the opposite direction, but an opposite wave going in the SAME direction.

If the waves are going in the opposite direction, you can’t cancel everything out.

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