Can someone please explain to me what a standing wave is?

Question

In your own words please ...

Answer 1

A standing wave is a wave that appears to be stationary with time.  Usually, such a wave can be considered a superposition of two or more regular traveling waves moving at the same speed but in opposite directions.

Standing waves are most easily observed in strings or wires vibrating at one of their resonant modes.  The ends of the string and possibly one or more equally-spaced points between the endpoints vibrate hardly at all.  These points of little or no vibration are called nodes.  The places halfway between the nodes where the vibration is at its maximum are called antinodes.  In a string, the traveling waves move along the string's length, but when the wave reaches one end of the string, it reflects and its direction reverses.