**I ended up asking a few questions actually so I don’t expect everyone to sit and answer all but if you happen to know the answer to one I would love to know**
For example internet
Say someone on the other side of the world sent you a message, what would that look like?
*Knowing nothing, I’m going to guess what I think please correct me (I’m just guessing so you can see what I am asking because I don’t know how to ask the question like the question sounded weird but idk how else to say it)*
So my guess, probs 100% wrong
– so person touches phone screen to type and send message
– screen receives some sort of heat signals or something and on each area of the screen it has some sort of information saying what to do when the person touches that spot
– the information goes to the computer in the phone and then relays the information onto the screen
– then when sending a message or whatever, whisky on wifi or phone network the information goes from the phone to the wifi/phone network through electrical currents in the air????? That look like what?? Is it like electrons that connect like a tunnel and it moves from the phone to the router/modem/phone tower???
– then it goes to the satellite?? By the same type of tunnel thing?
– then from satellite to other persons router/phone tower?
– then that information goes to their phone computer
– then the computer sends signal to their screen
That was probably so wrong lmfao please correct me and also tell me what it actually looks like if we were to see the electricity or whatever is happening
Edit: *whilst not whisky lmfao
Edit: also how do computers have lights? Like say a phone. If you turn it off no light, turn it in it has light on the screen. So does the electricity from when you charge it get stored somewhere in the phone then when you turn it on the electricity goes into the tiny squares that make up the screen? Then how does it change colours? And if that’s not correct how does it work?
Also just computers in general. First off who found out how to make a computer. What were they doing to do that like, how did they know how to get electricity (or whoever “found” electricity first) and make a box thing with microchips etc. Wtf is a microchip and how did they make it and put information on it. Just literally the whole thing computers are so complicated and I don’t get how someone could invent that.
In: 9
Since you’re asking what things look like, I’ll try to give you some visuals.
Your phone screen uses capacitance to tell where your finger tip is. Honestly, it is easier to simply accept this as magic 🙂. If you have ever used a [lamp that you could turn on/off](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbHBHhZOglw) just by touching it somewhere, then that is the same kind of thing. There’s lots of those sensors in your phone screen. [This](https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/iphone2.htm) briefly explains it.
The OS on your phone is always listening for taps. It receives taps as (x, y) coordinates from the screen, then it uses software to determine what do with that data. Maybe nothing. Maybe turn some pixels on and off. Maybe send a message to the cell network. Maybe add the letter “a” to a textbox if you pressed “a”. It all depends.
To communicate with Wifi or the cell network, yes, data travels over electromagnetic waves in the air. For ELI5 purposes, Wifi and cell signals work the exactly the same. There is an antenna in your phone that looks like [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted-F_antenna) or [this](https://www.nano-di.com/blog/2019-designing-a-microstrip-patch-antenna-prototype-how-3d-printing-can-help). When your phone applies a voltage to the antenna, the antenna interferes with the electromagnetic field (i.e. sends out waves of energy), which looks like [this](https://d3i71xaburhd42.cloudfront.net/f2e8f06fa52797cabf652797c66f4c44cb5cc0f7/9-Figure7-1.png). Matching antennas exist inside your Wifi router and in the cell tower, which receive these signals. The inside of a [cell antenna](https://blog.thebrokerlist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Pole-2.jpg) looks like [this](https://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/threads/any-cell-antenna-inside-pictures.80026/).
If you send a message over Wifi or cell network, it ends up on the regular internet. (Almost every single cell tower is connected to the internet.) There are some places where internet data travels into space (like this [uplink station](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3768/10782426365_9454dc8c91_c.jpg)) or over different types of networks (like a [microwave network](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/11/microwave-tower-1.jpg), or between satellites, which have antennas like [this](http://www.rocketstem.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/5139146093_e04fb6bf1e_o.jpg)). Mostly though, it’s just regular old wires connecting everything.
Eventually, your message will arrive at some antenna (either another cell tower antenna or some other Wifi antenna) and the whole thing happens in reverse to get that message to your friend.
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