Reflections of signals on conducting lines

Imagine you are standing in front of a big mirror, and you’re waving your hand. What do you see? You see your hand waving, right? And when you stop waving, your reflection stops too.

Now, let's pretend your hand is a signal, like a radio or Wi-Fi signal, and the mirror is a metal cable. If we send the signal down the cable, it will hit the other end and stop, right? Just like your reflection stops when you stop waving. But what if there was a bend in the cable? When the signal hits the end of the cable, it bounces back off the bend, like your reflection bounces back off the mirror. This is called a reflection!

Now, the thing is, when the signal bounces back, it may not bounce back perfectly. Just like your reflection may look a little blurry in a curved mirror. This can cause some problems because the reflected signal can interfere with the original signal, causing distortion or even cancelling it out. This is why we have to be careful when sending signals down metal cables – we need to make sure they don't bounce back in a way that causes problems.

In summary, when we send signals down metal cables, sometimes they bounce back off bends in the cable, causing reflections. These reflections can interfere with the original signal and cause problems, so we need to be careful.