What If Wifi Was Visible?
In today’s tech-savvy world, it’s all around you – an invisible world of electromagnetic signals and radio waves.
Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, is responsible for over 60 percent of the planet’s internet traffic. It’s seemingly everywhere, yet, imperceptible to the human eye. But what if you could see it? What would Wi-Fi look like? And what would it do to you if you could see it? Your eyes are pretty remarkable, and I’m not just saying that to be nice. You can see colors over an electromagnetic wavelength anywhere from 410 nanometers (here you’ll find violet) to roughly 680 nanometers (the home of red).
This is what we call “visible light,” also known as the visible spectrum. Its what humans can view without the aid of any fancy tech devices. Things like Wi-Fi are invisible to the human eye. But what if it’s wasn’t? What would Wi-Fi look like? There are upwards of 4 billion people accessing the internet around the world. That’s a lot of Wi-Fi signals. If you could see them, you would be peeking into the unseen world of electromagnetic fields. Wi-Fi is all about transmitting and receiving data in the gigahertz (GHz) range. If you woke up one day with the ability to see these signals, you would see frequencies up to 30 GHz, wavelengths greater than 10 millimeters (0.4 inches). Not so bad, right? Well, it is speculated that Wi-Fi waves, or pulses, are approximately 15 centimeters (six inches) apart. So imagine a bombardment of colored bands taking over your vision. And that’s just in your bedroom.
With everything we have in our homes that relies on Wi-Fi and the ever-expanding availability of the signal, like city-wide public Wi-Fi networks, the visual stimulation would be too much. So what would happen to you if you started seeing Wi-Fi? It would be overwhelming, to say the least. Prepare yourself for the worst headache in the history of headaches. It would be inescapable. Wi-Fi routers or antennas can be attached to almost anything, including trees, buildings, lamp posts and other structures. If you think that fleeing to the wilderness would work, a typical outdoor router can project its signal 300 feet or more from its location. All those routers will be creating a circular data field around them. Talk about being surrounded!
There have also been claims that just being exposed to electromagnetic fields can cause symptoms of anxiety, depression, nausea and suicidal thoughts. So, imagine what would happen if you could see them. If you could see these signals, you would probably be looking for the deepest cave you could find to hide in, to escape from the constant barrage of lights and freakiness. But, could something like this actually happen? Well, technically we could make this a reality, but it’s not something that would ever occur naturally. It’s easy to take a pair of, say, infrared goggles off. But if you were stuck with this ability forever, you’d be crushed by the overwhelming amount of visual input.
Overall, the idea of being able to witness Wi-Fi in action sounds like a really cool idea, but we should limit it to our technology, not ourselves. Thankfully, our natural eyes aren’t capable of seeing this invisible world, and we should consider ourselves lucky. Electromagnetic waves can have all sorts of strange results on us. It’s even theorized that the phenomenon is responsible for what we know as “ghosts.” It makes you think, doesn’t it? Subscribe to What-If on YouTube or follow the show on Facebook Watch.
Sources
- “Here’s What Wi-Fi Would Look Like If We Could See It”. 2013. Vice. Accessed December 10 2019.
- “Reading on Color & Light, Part I”. 2019. asu.edu. Accessed December 10 2019.
- “How Does Wi-Fi Work?”. Escobar, Eric. 2015. Scientific American. Accessed December 10 2019.
- “Internet Stats & Facts for 2019”. 2018. hostingfacts.com. Accessed December 10 2019.
- “Here’s How Wi-Fi Actually Works”. John Patrick Pullen, 2019. Time. Accessed December 10 2019.
If You Could See WiFi Signals
This device can be found almost everywhere; we use it in our homes, in cafes, and now some countries are officially even placing them in areas open to public. WiFi, a modern commodity that we practically rely on, is pretty much an invisible power source that allows us access and explore the internet, connect with our friends and family, and store our data. However, only a few of us have knowledge of exactly what WiFi truly is. So, if we could see WiFi, what would it look like?
An artist and blogger known as Nickolay Lamm, used this question as his inspiration for his artwork. He created visualizations that represent the range, shape, and shades of WiFi impulses if they were visible to the human eye.
To calculate precisely what this would look like, Lamm sought help from M. Browning Vogel, Ph.D., an astrobiologist and past employee at National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Vogel described the research behind the mobile technology to Lamm, so he could then use the information to create the art.
WiFi is an electric field that is transmissible as waves. The waves possess a certain height, have a precise distance between them, and move at a certain speed. The length between WiFi waves is shorter than that of a radio. Because the radio waves are longer than the microwaves, they have a different band. This ability gives WiFi a distinctive transmission band that can not be interrupted by other signals. WiFi waves tend to be up to three to five inches wide from peak to peak. The height of waves is translated to one by a computer system, and the troughs of the inverted peak is equal a zero. Patterns of these two numbers are interpreted as the letters, numbers and programs that make up online websites, electronic mail, and the extra internet material. Typical WiFi waves decrease in amplitude as they travel further from the source or WiFi router.
The wireless waves travel through empty spaces as rapid, data encoded pulses or waves. When frozen in place, these waves would show that the pulses are about six inches apart. WiFi network routers are basically an antenna that can deliver data at several frequencies at the same time. These multiple frequencies are revealed as red, green, blue, and yellow in the artwork. The data from these various wavelengths can be translated using a typical tag system understood by wireless units.
WiFi consumes the radio frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum between actual radio waves and of the microwaves used to listen to your radio. However, this frequency of band means that WiFi units and computers can send and receive data as an electro-magnetic wave that has a three to five-inch width distance between each pulse. The WiFi signals are displayed in the artwork as multicolored spheres radiating out from the wave’s origin. WiFi transmitters are fundamentally aerials that are furnished with a transmission protocol that splits the frequency band into many portions, which is also known as channels. Information can be sent over each channel in order to dispatch and receive greater volumes of data at faster rates. WiFi signals are usually rounded, like in the pictures, or oval-shaped and extend to about twenty to thirty meters, assuming that it is a typical in home WiFi router.
This twenty-four-year-old student from Pittsburgh, is focused on using illustrations to bring attention to subjects that are otherwise overlooked, he writes on his website that his work combines artwork and analysis. He also frequently works in collaboration with other artists.
Within the last couple of months, his projects have included a real life visualization of the famous Barbie doll and compares her figure to that of an ordinary female; what a typical person may possibly look like in the next hundred thousand years; and interestingly there is another visualization of cellular networks – which is also a beautiful illustration of artwork. Although Lamm is not the first artist to be inspired by invisible WiFi waves, he is the first to person to incorporate shape and color into the picture. You can find more of his amazing work on his website.
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How would wi-fi look if you could see it?
An artist and an astrobiologist work together to figure out what Wi-Fi would look like if it were visible to the human eye.
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27 Replies
OscarOneEye
Thomas0311
Dat_Guardian
Franklyundead
Well they’re waves, so I imagine waves of colors and sharks (wire sharks that is) riding those waves! And unicorns fighting off little leprechauns that try to attack the waves.
Franklyundead
JoeWilliams
harlequin1865
if not like Lukes description then similiar to the way that gas would float in the air. I mean human gas like poo gas not like oxygen. especially since we now have phones that put out wifi signals.
Well they’re waves, so I imagine waves of colors and sharks (wire sharks that is) riding those waves! And unicorns fighting off little leprechauns that try to attack the waves. Genuine LOL here — that just happened. Kinda like a Sharknado. http:/ Opens a new window / www.imdb.com/ title/ tt2724064
SnifferSir
It’s an interesting concept. I’ve often wondered what it would look like if we could actually «see» all the waves that traverse the air. Probably couldn’t even see to walk around.
NRHRSDC
Syldra
I’m sorry but. what does an astrobiologist knows about WIFI ? I mean. astro=space and bio=living so he mostly concerns himself with exoplanets and possibility of ETs, right ?
Syldra wrote: I’m sorry but. what does an astrobiologist knows about WIFI ? I mean. astro=space and bio=living so he mostly concerns himself with exoplanets and possibility of ETs, right ?
Y — I was wondering about that, too. Real physicists are all probably too busy to make rainbow lines on photos of the Capital! 😀
Syldra wrote: I’m sorry but. what does an astrobiologist knows about WIFI ? I mean. astro=space and bio=living so he mostly concerns himself with exoplanets and possibility of ETs, right ?
Hey, it sounds important, isn’t that good enough? I mean come on, 4 out of 5 dentists think it’s a good idea to brush while reading this post, so. it’s gotta be a good post, right?
Syldra
Magnus369 wrote: Hey, it sounds important, isn’t that good enough? I mean come on, 4 out of 5 dentists think it’s a good idea to brush while reading this post, so. it’s gotta be a good post, right?
Thomas0311
Magnus369 wrote: Syldra wrote: I’m sorry but. what does an astrobiologist knows about WIFI ? I mean. astro=space and bio=living so he mostly concerns himself with exoplanets and possibility of ETs, right ?
Hey, it sounds important, isn’t that good enough? I mean come on, 4 out of 5 dentists think it’s a good idea to brush while reading this post, so. it’s gotta be a good post, right? I’m sorry but I’m not going to take dental advice from someone who’s entire paycheck is based on how bad my teeth get. Just sayin’.
Just ask anybody who’s ever made coffee with red bull. They’ve seen Wi-Fi. they can also probably tell you what the colour purple smells like.. Red Bull Coffee or LSD. a person who’s consumed either knows.
Those who’ve consumed both have probably replied to a Wi-Fi signal themselves!
Syldra
Thomas0311 wrote: Magnus369 wrote: Syldra wrote: I’m sorry but. what does an astrobiologist knows about WIFI ? I mean. astro=space and bio=living so he mostly concerns himself with exoplanets and possibility of ETs, right ?
Hey, it sounds important, isn’t that good enough? I mean come on, 4 out of 5 dentists think it’s a good idea to brush while reading this post, so. it’s gotta be a good post, right? I’m sorry but I’m not going to take dental advice from someone who’s entire paycheck is based on how bad my teeth get. Just sayin’. Like many other things in life (mechanics, doctors, plombers. ) the one making the diagnostic shouldn’t the one who do the repairs, more so if he’s getting paid for both. Problem is, the same could be said of IT workers.