Mobile phones send and receive data through electromagnetic waves. When a wave is emitted from a phone, the wave is received at the other end. What happens to the wave after that?

1 Answer
May 3, 2016

The wave dissipates.

Explanation:

I'm not sure how to explain this that detailed, but here goes nothing.

After the wave is transmitted, bounced off of a satellite/ cell tower, and received, the wave acts like any other wave that you might think of. It is absorbed by material, bounces off of material, and/or dissipates.

The big thing to realize is that the wave doesn't just stop. It will continue on it's path until it fades.