Here’s how you can hack together a radio transmitter and receiver out of stuff you have at home—and explore the weirdness of wireless.

The “Golden Age of Radio” supposedly ended in the ’50s, with the advent of television. But guess what? TV shows were broadcast with radio signals. And today? Radio is everywhere. You have a radio in your car, but maybe you prefer to stream music on your phone. Well, how does the music gets to you? Via radio waves from cell towers, is how. Your GPS runs on radio too. For that matter, so does your home Wi-Fi.

Radio waves are a kind of electromagnetic radiation, just like visible light. But they’re at the bottom end of the spectrum, which makes them harmless to humans, because low frequency means low energy. (High-frequency, high-energy radiation like x-rays or gamma rays are another story.) That’s part of the reason radio waves are ideal for wireless communication. They can also travel vast distances and pass through obstacles like walls.

So radio is as relevant as ever. But did you know you can easily build your own radio transmitter and receiver at home with some simple supplies? I'm going to show you how. It’s a fun project and a good excuse to explore some cool physics.

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