Dipole antenna

Okay, so imagine you have a really long stick with a ball on each end. Now imagine you spin this stick around really fast. The balls will move up and down, right? That's kind of what a dipole antenna is like.

A dipole antenna is a long piece of metal wire that is cut in half and each half is connected to a radio or TV transmitter/receiver. It's like having two sticks with balls on each end, but the balls are replaced with wires that transmit radio waves. These wire pieces are usually mounted parallel to each other and perpendicular to the ground.

When electricity is sent down one of the metal wires, it creates a magnetic field that moves back and forth. This movement creates electromagnetic waves that travel through the air and can be picked up by other radios or TVs.

The two wire pieces of the dipole antenna create opposite magnetic fields, which causes the electromagnetic waves they produce to be focused in a certain direction. This means that the radio or TV signal is sent out in a specific pattern and can be picked up by devices that are positioned to receive the signal in that pattern.

So when you turn on your TV or radio and pick up a signal, you're actually picking up the electromagnetic waves that are being transmitted by a dipole antenna somewhere nearby, and that signal is being sent out in a specific pattern to reach your device.