“WiFi signals, like visible light, are a kind of electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic waves with wavelengths similar to WiFi signals flow through walls as easily as light travels through glass windows.”
One of the most prevalent concerns in today’s society is a lack of WiFi access, particularly when you need it the most!
However, there are several aspects of Wi-Fi technology that, if discussed a few decades ago, would have made people believe you’d gone insane. For example, the presence of a technology that allows you to stream films and connect to the rest of the world—wirelessly—would have baffled everyone.
Furthermore, WiFi signals reach your device even if the WiFi router is far away. For example, you can use WiFi to access the internet even if the WiFi router is in a separate room and there are one or more walls/doors between your phone and the router.
Isn’t it weird that while light cannot pass through walls, WiFi signals can? What causes this?
Electromagnetic radiation and WiFi
Most likely, you’ve lately encountered electromagnetic radiation. After all, it is always present around us. Infrared, Bluetooth, WiFi, and visible light are all ubiquitous. Technically speaking, it is a kind of energy that, depending on its frequency, can be classified as radio waves, microwaves, UV rays, and so on (or wavelength).
Take a glance at the image below:
There are six primary forms of electromagnetic radiation, as seen in the graphic above (7, if you count visible light separately).
WiFi utilizes one of these types of waves, which are radio waves.
WiFi creates wireless connections between two or more devices using radio waves. Depending on the quantity of data being carried, it employs two different types of radio wave frequencies: 5 gigahertz and 2.4 gigahertz. The amount of data transferred per second increases with frequency.
As a result, 5 GHz is utilized for WiFi transmissions that transport enormous volumes of data between devices.
How WiFi signal penetrates walls/barriers?
One of these three things can happen when an electromagnetic wave—in this example, WiFi signals—hits a surface:
- refraction (go through)
- reflection (gain reflection)
- absorption (become absorbed)
The color associated with a specific visible light wavelength that an item reflects is transformed into the color of the object. The wavelength of light that an apple most strongly reflects when light strikes its surface is the wavelength corresponding to the color red, which explains why apples are red.
The next logical question is: what causes an item to exclusively absorb, reflect, or refract electromagnetic energy of a specific wavelength?
That fully relies on the material that makes up the thing in the issue. You see, atoms are the teeny, tiny building components that makeup everything in the universe. The size of these atoms and their spacing (how tightly or loosely they are packed together inside an item) decide whether the material will absorb or permit the passage of a specific wavelength of electromagnetic radiation.
Consider visible light as an example. You do realize that when you close your bedroom door, no outside light comes in? why not
Well, because solid items like your bedroom door or walls prevent visible light from passing through them. It can, however, readily flow through some other types of solid things, such as windows made of glass. This is the reason WiFi signals may flow through doors and walls.
Walls are transparent to WiFi signals (another type of electromagnetic radiation), just like glass windows are to visible light, since the frequency (or wavelength) of radiation associated with WiFi signals may penetrate solid materials, but only to a certain extent.
The WiFi signals won’t be able to penetrate the walls in issue if they are too thick. Additionally, WiFi signals lose part of their energy as they go through the air due to attenuation.
For this reason, if a WiFi router is running inside a room with solid concrete walls, you won’t get any WiFi coverage outside the room. Similarly, if the router is located far from you (150-300 feet), your device won’t receive strong WiFi signals.
Simply said, WiFi signals can easily travel through most walls and ensure you stay connected because walls are transparent to WiFi signals in the same way as glass windows are to visible light.
Find out more by engaging Buzzer.lk and Buzzer Science & Technology.
