I’ve seen radio waved depicted in two different ways that seem at odds with one another. the first is something like [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Wireless_tower.svg/75px-Wireless_tower.svg.png), with the waves spreading out from a point source in all directions. the second is like [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Cross_linear_polarization.gif/330px-Cross_linear_polarization.gif) with the radio wave moving in a “tube” constrained by its own parameters.
since we can’t see them, radio waves remain a bit abstract, but both of these visualizations can’t be correct at the same time… or can they? can someone as to what the real picture would “look” like?
many thanks!
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The second image is slightly more correct, but both are reasonable depictions. The point source of the first image is sending out so many individual waves in all directions that, in practice, it is essentially producing an omnidirectional spherical “wave”.
It’s like the sun – for all practical purposes the sun emits light in all directions continuously, but technically it’s just emitting an unfathomable number of discrete photons.
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