A light wave is reflected from a mirror. The incident and reflected waves superimpose to form stationary waves. But no nodes and antinodes are seen. Why?

Explanation

As is known, the distance between two sudccessive nodes or two successive antinodes is `lambda//2`. The wavelength of visible light is of the order of `10^(-7)`m. As such , a small distance cannot be detected by the eye or by an ordinary optical instrument. Therefore, nodes and antinodes are not seen.