Opposing waves cancel only momentarily because energy persists in kinetic form

Evidence

Thus the sound wave will appear to be stationary between the reflecting boundaries, and so is called a standing wave, or, more precisely, a resonant mode. It is important to realize that the wave is still moving at its normal speed-it is merely that, like a toy train, the wave endlessly retraces the same positions between the boundaries with respect to the wavelength, as shown in Figure 1. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 383 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Impulse energy is fixed at impact regardless of later echoes; Inertia delays wave transmission and the medium returns to rest afterward; Interfering sound waves pass through each other because their energy flow is preserved (+5 more)

Related

• A standing wave is still moving at normal speed while appearing stationary (similarity 0.88)
• Standing waves arise from counter-propagating reflections with no net energy flow (similarity 0.86)
• Standing waves can form without two bounding reflectors (similarity 0.86)
• Interfering sound waves pass through each other because their energy flow is preserved (similarity 0.84)
• Standing-wave modes produce several decay times, leaving excess energy at modal frequencies (similarity 0.84)
• Sound waves reflecting between two boundaries can form standing waves (similarity 0.83)
• Pressure nodes and antinodes structure inside standing waves have complementary velocity counterparts (similarity 0.81)
• Superposed sounds cancel or amplify locally without changing each other (similarity 0.81)
• Standing waves are a subclass of the more general phenomenon called resonant modes (similarity 0.81)
• Opposing waves do not annihilate because their energy just shifts form. (similarity 0.80)
• Modal absorption is frequency dependent, stretching decay time at standing-wave frequencies (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Interfering sound waves pass through each other because their energy flow is preserved #corroborates (0.90)
• Inertia delays wave transmission and the medium returns to rest afterward #expands (0.80)
• A standing wave is still moving at normal speed while appearing stationary #expands (0.80) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 383
• Standing waves arise from counter-propagating reflections with no net energy flow #expands (0.75)
• Modal absorption is frequency dependent, stretching decay time at standing-wave frequencies #expands (0.75)
• Standing-wave modes produce several decay times, leaving excess energy at modal frequencies #expands (0.70)
• Correlated waves interfere with each other while uncorrelated sources do not #expands (0.70)