This has been on my mind quite a while now (many years, since I was a child in primary school) and no one could answer me, but imo its kinda a simple question.
My question is: according to the wave model for electromagnetic radiation, EMR should display characteristics of waves right?
If this is true then I ask what will happen if one beam of a set certain frequency is shone at one direction, and another beam of the same frequency, but 180 degrees out of phase, shone at the first beam, from the opposite direction? Assume this occurs in total vacuum and both waves have equal peak amplitudes.
If its like any mechanical waves, they should superimpose and simply cancel out. But won't this mean the conservation law be broken?