Really what is WiFi?

To put it simply WiFi is the method used to connect computers not by ethernet cables but by radio waves. This allows the transfer of data without the use of wires. It is what we have all come to know and love. If you go somewhere and there is not WiFi you feel crushed. In one of the more recent movies of our time "Doctor Strange" there is an iconic scene shown below. This is how connected we really all are. The concept of WiFi is how cell phones work, they operate at a different frequency than that of WiFi but the general concept remains the same. According to a paper in Salem Press Encylopedia of Science by Tyler Biscontini WiFi can be described by "Wi-Fi networks require each computer on the network to have a specialized wireless receiver , also called a wireless card. While some computers come with preinstalled wireless cards, others require an external wireless card. Wireless networks also require a wireless router, which uses radio waves rather than Ethernet cables to transmit information. Wi-Fi networks transmit radio waves at two frequencies, 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) and 5 GHz." So to wrap it up nicely WiFi or Wireless Networks are simply a method to comunicate between devices on a network without the use of cables by utilizing transmiting information via radio waves. The wireless cards are antennas for the computer to pickup the radio waves. In the end WiFi can be broken down into a protocol that manages the electromagnetic waves known as radio waves. It is all about the physics!

The picture of a typical WiFi

image from nodemcu.readthedocs.io