how do radio signals (4G, WiFi etc.) manage to retain their information after passing through trees, buildings and other obstacles? And how are they not mixed up, intertwined?
In: Technology
Most information is encoded in the frequency of the wave, and as a wave transfers through an object the frequency is not altered. The edited and wavelength will change if the material is altered but the frequency is the same.
This is because the frequency measures how the atoms/field are being disturbed. For example a water wave pushed up against a boundary material like loose sand sets a wave of on the same as well. If the frequencies altered what will happen is that the water wave will be pushed up, while the same is being pushed down. Since the motion of the wave coming in is the cause for the wave in the same this can’t happen.
This means information encoded as slight changes in frequencies don’t have to worry about it getting scrambled.
Amplitude can get altered by passing through materials as that measures how far the medium is displaced, and thicker mediums don’t shift as far.
This is why am radio is often more staticy than fm.
Throw in the fact that the waves we choose to communicate (radio and microwave light waves) find most materials we build out of to be transparent, and bately even interact with them
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